Vergil's Magic Emporium

Magic the Gathering News Vol 14: Dark Ascension Spoilers, Intro Packs, GP updates and much much more

2012-01-30T07:18:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to this first edition of the news for 2012, in this edition we will be covering the following items Dark Ascension Spoilers, DKA intro packs, GP's for the month of January, as well as the most interesting piece of news to come out of magic, which was the App for Android and Iphone's which is scheduled to be released sometime soon, so let's get to it.

Well another spoiler season come and gone, Dark Ascension's season officially ended on the 23rd of the month, but left that residual taste in our mouths which isn't good, about 60% of the rares i feel are completely unplayable outside of limited/EDH and casual play, which sucks because usually rares usually end up defining a set, but here's the breakdown of the rarity for those curious souls 12 Mythic Rares, 38 rares, 44 uncommons and 64 commons which make up the 158 cards in the set, out of the set though here's just a general top 5 for those interested.

5. Gravecrawler
4. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
3. Vorapede
2. Huntmaster of the Fells
1. Grafdigger's Cage

Yes my list is a little whacked with the two mythic DFC's of the set taking the top 2 slots, but DFC's have proven to be good, look at Mayor of Avabruck for crying out loud, anyways when the set is released this friday, please be sure to make sure to pick up at least 2 boxes to get the majority of the good stuff in this set, since a lot of the uncommons/commons are better then most of the rares here.

During the same week of spoilers we also got the intro packs for the set, the names of the intro packs are as follows Swift Justice, Relentless Dead, Dark Sacrifice, Monstrous Surprise and of course Grave Power and these will go on sale the same day Dark Ascension is released to the public on Feburary 3rd, 2012, they will range from about 8 dollars to 14 dollars a intro pack depending on the contents of the rares and how your local game store prices them, for the intro pack lists please see the following link

Intro Pack lists --> Intro Pack Lists

So a new app for the IPhone, IPad and Android phone users is scheduled to come out sometime within the next while as of this writing, did i mention it's free it's called the Magic the Gathering Toolbox and it lets you build decks, gives you a article reader, card search, Life tracker and it even has a event calendar and store locator for you, interesting i know right, updates though for later sets after the release of this will cost a bit of money, how much is still unknown as of this point, but it is a great resource for any magic player to have on the go, for the full arcana link to the description of this app please see the link below

Application Arcana --> Magic the Gathering Application

As per usual of me it's time to take a look at the Grand Prix's which happened this month, starting with the first one Grand Prix Austin which saw long time bad boy Raphael Levy take the crown of being austin's champ for 2012, earning his spot in a upcoming pro tour, as well as the more recent stuff with Grand Prix Orlando which saw a epic finale bewteen Patrick "The Innovator" Chapin and Conley "Deck Doctor" Woods duking it out with new innovations in terms of decks but it was Conley Woods whom dominated the event and claim his trophy showing why he had a undefeated run at worlds, he's a changed man folks.

Anyways that's all the time we have for this edition of the monthly, stay tuned next month when we finally learn of the Event decks for Dark Ascension, look back at Pro Tour Honoluhu and of course so so much more, until next time though this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Prerelease Primer

2012-01-27T04:59:00.000-08:00

As per usual with the prerelease of a new set, let's go over the information on the Dark Ascension prereleases which happen around the world at your local game store this weekend, bear in mind some of this information is more recent.

Some prereleases around the world will have a Monsters vs Humans theme going on with Monsters from all different tribes being chosen out of the various players, the 4 tribes are Werewolves, Vampires, Spirits and Zombies which depending on the size of your prerelease will be different, each prerelease will be giving away the card of choice as per usual which is

Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed and these promos will be in quite a large supply as per the policy of Wizards of the Coast or at least i hope so when it comes around to picking one of these up, some prereleases will be occuring on both days of the weekend at some game stores around the world, for more information on this i suggest you look at your local game store where you go to play magic.

For your prerelease it also depends on your LGS but the standard tradition for a 2nd set is the following 3 packs of the first set, in this case Innistrad and 3 packs of the new set which in this case is Dark Ascension, if your prerelease is 6 packs of Dark Ascension however feel free to report their butts to wizards since they are in violation of the prerelease rules in regards to the product they can give out for the event, each event will be usually 5-6 rounds of round robins with packs being given out at the end of the event for prize distrbution of course.

Of course as always please be sure to have fun while playing the game of Magic and that you adhere to the code of conduct of being a magic player, which is always be professional, after all it's just a game but people often judge others on their code of conduct so keep that in mind, anyways for those attending this weekend's events be sure to have fun and enjoy the Dark Ascension prerelease events happening worldwide, because next week the set is officially released to the world, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoiler Part 7: Artifacts

2012-01-27T04:58:00.001-08:00

For the artifacts for this set, let's hope they are as good as the last set, or a little better but knowing wizards it's gonna be dull for artifacts this particular set in question, but let's see what they have for us.

#144) Altar of the Lost - Flashback has it's mana generator now, for 3 mana you get a artifact that enters the battlefield tapped, can generate 2 mana for any flashback spell period, so that's going to make flashback much more versatile in this writer's opinion.

#145) Avacyn's Collar - 1 mana for a equip that grants a creature +1/+0 and gives it vigilance, whenever the creature dies put a 1/1 white spirit creature token in it's place, really good and it costs 2 mana to equip too, perfectly balanced.

#146) Chalice of Life/Chalice of Death - Ok so the first chalice gives 1 life, has a transform clause that states "when you have 10 life more then you started with, transform it" so 30 life and this changes into the Chalice of Death which when you tap it target player loses 5 life, interesting little non creature transformer here.

#147) Elbrus, the Binding Blade/Withengar Unbound - Whoa another DFC mythic for this set, this isn't really happening is it, ok so let's break down the basics a 7 mana converted cost to play, 1 to equip, gives +1/+0 and is a legendary artifact, so that's a given. The transform clause for this particular card is when it deals damage and it changes into Withengar Unbound which is a 13/13 legendary demon with flying, trample and intimidate and whenever a player loses the game put 13 +1/+1 counters on Withengar, holy crap this is stupidly insane.

#148) Executioner's Hood - 2 mana equip that gives a creature intimidate, has a equip cost of 2, common, limited fodder.

#149) Grafdigger's Cage - 1 mana for a artifact that basically prevents casting from the graveyard, as well as from the library, also prevents creatures from entering the battlefield via the graveyard or library, not bad.

#150) Heavy Mattock - Another really weird equipment, 3 mana to play which seems to be a common trait in this set for artifacts, gives a creature +1/+1 and if it is a human another +1/+1, is a common and has a equip cost of 2 mana to boot, interesting to say the least.

#151) Helavault - 3 mana for a Mythic rare legendary artifact that exiles things from both your and your opponent's side of the field for 7 and 1 mana respectively, when this is destroyed return everything exiled by Helavault, EDH card i'm sorry to say.

#152) Jar of Eyeballs - Honestly for 3 mana i would expect better, even as a rare artifact, for 3 mana you get a artifact that states whenever a creature you control dies, put 2 eyeball counters on this card, then it's secondary ability states pay 3 and tap it, remove all eyeball counters on this card and look at the top X cards of your library where X is the number of counters removed this way, put 1 into your hand and put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order, i swear this was solely designed for EDH honestly.

#153) Warden of the Wall - 3 mana for a uncommon artifact that can generate 1 mana, when it's not your turn it turns into a 2/3 gargoyle with flying which means it's also a blocker, not bad, for limited.

#154) Wolfhunter's Quiver - 1 mana for a artifact equip that hits werewolves and players but has a 5 mana equip cost sorry folks.

Well that's it for this particular set, remember the prereleases are this weekend and all that, have fun, see you next time for Avacyn Restored.

Dark Ascension Spoiler Part 6: Multicolor and Lands

2012-01-27T04:58:00.000-08:00

As per usual Multicolor cards and lands are thrown into one article, this should be quite fun for honesty's sake, let's see what those two particular card forms are up to.

#135) Diregraf Captain - A uncommon lord for a change, no way, a 2/2 that costs 1, blue and a black to play, grants zombies +1/+1 and has deathtouch, whenever a zombie dies, target opponent loses 1 life, wow a nice way to start the lords off.

#136) Drogskol Captain - 1, white and a blue for a uncommon lord for spirits, grants them +1/+1 and hexproof and is a 2/2 with flying, wow this will give spirits a serious boost.

#137) Drogskol Reaver - For being a mythic it's pretty good, flying, lifelink and double strike on the same body, whenever you gain life it draws cards equal to that amount, but it's mana cost ugh, 5, white and a blue for a 3/5 ugh i'm not too sure about this one.

#138) Falkenrath Aristocrat - Yeah i'm a fan of this card, 4/1 for a 2, red and a black, mythic rare that has haste, flying and sacrifice a creature Aristocrat is indestrucible for that turn, if a human was sacrificed this way, put a +1/+1 counter on it as well, well Olivia Voldaren has a new dance partner.

#139) Havengul Lich - A 5 mana mythic for a 4/4 that copys activated abilites during your turn whenever you use it's ability to cast a creature, sweet, it can be any creature in your graveyard, wow blue and black just got the boss cards i swear.

#140) Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells - Double Faced mythic for the set, seems to be a lot of multicolor mythics for this set honestly, 2/2 that costs 2, green and a red, when it comes into play or transforms back to Huntmaster put a 2/2 green wolf creature token onto the battlefield, gain 2 life to boot, transform clause is simple and the other side basically states deal 2 damage when it transforms, oh god, i can see this getting broken in so many ways honestly, did i mention ravager has trample too.

#141) Immerwolf - 1, red and a green for a 2/2 uncommon that has intimidate, grants other wolf and werewolves +1/+1 and prevents them from changing back, broken much.

#142) Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - I got chills from seeing this card, a 2, white, black yes another color combination walker, he has 3 abilites +1 puts a 1/1 black vampire creature token onto the battlefield with lifelink, his -2 gives you a emblem with creatures you control get +1/+0 and his ultimate -6 destroys 3 target creatures and/or other planeswalkers, return each card put into a graveyard this way onto the battlefield under your control, how sick is this guy, seriously sick folks.

#143) Stromkirk Captain - Oh wow, a 1, black and a red dude for a uncommon lord type effect, granting vampires +1/+1 and first strike, is a 2/2 with first strike and isn't legendary or anything wow are you pushing vampires here wizards or what.

#155) Evolving Wilds - Was not expecting to see this reprinted honestly in this set, but it makes sense flavor wise now, sac this, search for a basic land, put it onto the battlefield tapped, yes i know what this does off by heart folks.

#156) Grim Backwoods - G/B enemy land for this set, sacrifice a creature, draw a card for 2, green and a black mana while tapping it, generates 1 colorless as expected for a non color land, not bad, not good for a rare.

#157) Havengul Fengraf - So you tap this to add 1 to your mana pool, it's secondary ability is you pay 3, tap and sacrifice this, return target creature from your graveyard to your hand at random, note the random wording for this set, meaning you cannot choose yourself it's all based on luck.

#158) Vault of the Archangel - So a rare land that generates 1 colorless mana, for 2, white and a black while tapping this it grants your creatures lifelink and deathtouch until end of turn, um wow this is a sick enabler for Black/White tokens here.

And so that ends part 6 of the spoilers, stay tuned for the final part, artifacts which will be part 7.

Dark Ascension Spoiler Part 5: Green

2012-01-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

It's green's turn on the color wheel and the final color it is, except for the multicolored cards, this should be interesting to see green's offerings for the small set.

#108) Briarpack Alpha - Another wolf, 3 and a green for a 2/2 with flash, when it enters the battlefield it provides a +2/+2 boost until end of turn as a uncommon, limited much.

#109) Clinging Mists - 2 and a green for a instant speed Fog with Fateful hour when it prevents the attacking creatures from untapping if the conditions are met at the common level, really in limited not bad.

#110) Crushing Vines - 2 and a green for a instant that is a common, you get to kill either a artifact or a creature with flying with this, interesting removal piece.

#111) Dawntreader Elk - Civic Wayfinder's newest reprint, 1 and a green for a 2/2 that you can pay 1 green mana for and sacrifice it to search for a basic land, put it on the battlefield tapped and all that, really here, really.

#112) Deranged Outcast - 1 and a green for a rare that you can pay 1 and a green, sacrifice a human and put 2 +1/+1 counters on a target creature for a 2/1, hmm you can target him with it too, not bad, not good for the first rare of the color.

#113) Favor of the Woods - 2 and a green for a enchantment - aura that whenever a creature enchanted with this attacks you gain 3 life, really limited material here.

#114) Feed the Pack - An 6 mana enchantment that you can sacrifice creatures at the end step to allow yourself to put 2/2's on the field where the amount of them you can put into play depends on the sacrificed creature's toughness, EDH card much.

#115) Ghoultree - A hefty 7 and a green mana while being a treefolk zombie what a Treefolk zombie, a 10/10 for a 8 mana rare, with the ability this costs 1 less for each creature card in your graveyard, seriously this could be a big contender if it had trample and/or evasion.

#116) Gravetiller Wurm - More wurms in magic, great just great, for 5 and a green you get a 4/4 trampler that is a uncommon with morbid that gives it 4 +1/+1 counters, really a powerhouse in limited, green has the stuff for limited now for early picks.

#117) Grim Flowering - 5 and a green for a sorcery that lets you draw a card for each creature in your graveyard, really late game limited material here.

#118) Hollowhenge Beasts - 3, green, green for a 5/5 vanilla nope.

#119) Hunger of the Howlpack - Morbid's back as expected, limited fodder though with this 1 mana instant speed spell that puts a +1/+1 counter on target creature, but morbid gives 3 of those counters instead, interesting.

#120) Increasing Savagery - The last of this cycle and wow is it a good one, this one costs 4 and a green, for a +5/+5 boost for one creature for the rest of the game, but if it was cast from a graveyard give a creature +10/+10 instead and it's flashback cost is a nice 5, green, green to boot as a rare.

#121) Kessig Recluse - 2, green, green for a 2/3 with reach and deathtouch, sorry.

#122) Lambholt Elder/Silverpelt Werewolf - 2 and a green for a 1/2 and a 4/5 when it transforms, the 1/2 has the standard transform clause and the 4/5 allows you to draw cards when it deals damage, kinda iffy personally.

#123) Lost in the Woods - 3, green, green for a rare enchantment that is basically a new Fog for green players, when a creature attacks either you or a planeswalker, reveal the top card of your library, if it was a forest, remove that creature from combat then put the revealed card on the bottom of your library, really nice EDH material here.

#124) Predator Ooze - My favorite rare of the set, triple green to cast, is a rare, 1/1 that's indestrucible, gets
+1/+1 counters when it deals fatal damage to creatures and when it attacks, not bad honestly.

#125) Scorned Villager/Moonscarred Werewolf - Ok so 2 mana for a 1/1 that generates 1 green mana, has the standard transform clause and it's other side has vigilance, is a 2/2 and generates two green mana by tapping of course, nice very nice common.

#126) Somberwald Dryad - 1 and a green for a 2/2 forestwalker common, come on.

#127) Strangleroot Geist - 2 green mana for a 2/1 that has Undying and haste, which means it will become a 3/2 when it dies but still retain haste best undying card i've seen to date.

#128) Tracker's Instincts - 1 and a green for a reveal the top four cards of your library, put a creature from among them into your hand and put the rest on the bottom with a flashback cost of 2 and a blue mana, interesting.

#129) Ulvenwald Bear - Oh crap it's a bear, run oh no maybe not, 2, green for a 2/2 with morbid when a creature died and this enters the battlefield put 2 +1/+1 counters on a target creature, yes this gives a boost with morbid as expected.

#130) Village Survivors - 4 and a green for a 4/5 vigilance with fateful hour giving your other creatures vigilance, late game limited material here.

#131) Vorapede - 2, green, green, green for a mythic that's a 5/4 with undying, vigilance and trample, pod target anyone?

#132) Wild Hunger - 2 and a green for a instant that grants +3/+1 until end of turn and trample, with a flashback cost of 3 and a red to boot, mini Kessig Wolf Run in limited anyone?

#133) Wolfbitten Captive/Krallenhorde Killer - So a 1 mana rare DFC that is a 1/1 that can give a +2/+2 pump to itself for 1 and a green, transformed it gives +4/+4 to itself for 3 and a green mana, as well as being a 2/2 serious beats.

#134) Young Wolf - 1 green mana for a common 1/1 with undying, first really good common with this particular mechanic honestly.

Anyways that's the main 5 colors of the set, stay tuned for the multicolors and lands.

Dark Ascension Spoilers Part 4: Red

2012-01-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

With any set of magic, red is the fourth piece on our color wheel and should probably have some interesting cards to talk about this time around, we will see though with red's take on Dark Ascension.

#81) Afflicted Deserter/Werewolf Ransacker - 3/2 and a 5/4 for 4 mana isn't that bad honestly, whenever the deserter transforms from it's standard transform clause you can blow up artifacts, while dealing 3 damage as a uncommon too, not bad.

#82) Alpha Brawl - 6, red, red for a sorcery that makes one of your creatures fight the opponent's entire team, then they fight back basically dealing damage equal to their power to that one creature, rare, sorry just the mana cost alone is way too much even for limited.

#83) Burning Oil - 1 and a red for a instant that is a uncommon and it deals 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature, has a flashback of 3 and a white as well, not bad for Red/White

#84) Blood Feud - 4, red, red for a uncommon that makes 2 creatures fight, nope.

#85) Curse of Bloodletting - Another curse, are you kidding me, but this one is a damage doubler, hmm i don't know but it sounds to me a curse deck is looking mighty tempting to build now, costs 3, red, red and is a rare to boot.

#86) Erdwal Ripper - 1, red, red for a 2/1 with haste, whenever it deals combat damage put a +1/+1 counter on it, is a common, yeah i'd choose this for black red vampires in limited easily, probably pick 3 too.

#87) Faithless Looting - Are you kidding me, 1 red mana for a sorcery that is a Careful Study for red and is a common to boot with a flashback cost of 2 and a red mana, so it appears Burning Vegeance might have it's cards of choice now, overall a good common in Dark Ascension so far.

#88) Fires of Undeath - 2 and a red for a instant common that deals 2 damage to target creature or player, with a flashback cost of 5 and a black, decent but limited material once again.

#89) Flayer of the Hatebound - 5 and a red mana for a rare that is a Devil, i knew devils would be in this set, 4/2 for a undying rare, whenever it or another creature enters the battlefield from a graveyard deal damage equal to it's power to target creature or player, whoa this is nuts for a Johnny card.

#90) Fling - Well this is getting another reprint, 1 and a red for a instant speed spell that you sacrifice a creature, you deal damage equal to that creature's power to target creature or player, nice to see this back.

#91) Forge Devil - Another serious Red Deck wins enabler, 1 red mana for a 1/1 that basically pings both you and a creature you control, so what it's a extra attacker and it's common sick.

#92) Heckling Fiends - You know i don't like mana ability creatures a lot, this one i don't like either, 2 and a red mana to cast for a 2/2 uncommon that has pay 2 and a red mana, target creature attacks this turn if able, forcing attacks is nice in limited you know.

#93) Hinterland Hermit/Hinterland Scourge - 1 and a red for this particular DFC to play, has the standard werewolf transform clause, it's other half the scourge forces blockers when it attacks and has the standard transform back into human clause

#94) Increasing Vengeance - 2 red for a instant that copies other spells 1 if played from the hand, twice if cast from the graveyard, is a rare and has a flashback cost of 3, red, red to boot, wow one of the better Increasing cards from the set so far.

#95) Hellrider - 2, red, red for a rare that when a creature you control attacks deal 1 damage, it has haste, is a 3/3 and has some sweet looking art.

#96) Markov Blademaster - 1, red, red for a 1/1 that gets bigger whenever it deals combat damage like Stromkirk Noble and it has double strike at that, making it that much better.

#97) Markov Warlord - 5 and a red for a uncommon that is a 4/4 with haste, when it enters the battlefield up to two target creatures cannot block that turn, really for this much it's supposed to be balanced not.

#98) Mondronen Shaman/Tovolar's Magehunter - The shaman has the standard transform clause, is a 3/2 while the magehunter is a 5/5 that when a opponent casts a spell it deals 2 damage to him/her and this is the release card as well for this set with 2 different card arts

#99) Moonveil Dragon - 3, red, red and red for a 5/5 that gives Firebreathing to your entire team and it is a mythic rare, as well as a flyer, boo yeah love me some dragons for this set.

#100) Nearheath Stalker - New ability means new keyword, this is a 4/1 with the new keyword Undying, which gives a +1/+1 counter when it dies and it comes back with said +1/+1 counter and becomes a 5/2 as a common

.#101) Pyreheart Wolf - 2 and a red for a 1/1 with the new mechanic Undying, kinda lame, but it does prevent single creatures from blocking your entire team ensuring more damage gets through.

#102) Russet Wolves - 3 and a red for a vanilla 3/3 nope.

#103) Scorch the Fields - 4 and a red for a sorcery that is a common, destroys a target land and deals 1 damage to each human, again why does this kind of stuff exist oh yeah filler.

#104) Shattered Perceptions - 2 and a red for a sorcery that's a uncommon, you discard all the cards in your hand and draw that many, with a flashback cost of 5 and a red, hmm maybe limited material.

#105) Talons of Falkenrath - 1 and a red for a aura enchantment that's a common, gives +2/+0 for 1 and a red mana, has flash to boot, hmm limited material much

#106) Torch Fiend - 1 and a red for a 1/1 that you pay 1 red mana and sacrifice it, destroy target artifact, Shatter on a stick much.

#107) Wrack with Madness - 3 and a red for a common that forces a creature to deal damage equal to it's power to itself hmm nope.

Anyways that's it for red, stay tuned for green next.

Dark Ascension Spoilers Part 3: Black

2012-01-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

Black's turn on the wheel with this edition, for a small set though we saw some good stuff last year, now will it follow up with this small set, let's find out.

#54) Black Cat - 1 and a black for a 1/1 that when it dies a target opponent discards a card, interesting, but not desirable.

#55) Chosen of Markov/Markov's Servant - So the first DFC of this color a 2/2 that you tap to tap a vampire and transform it, costs 2 and a black and changes into a vanilla 4/4 no thanks.

#56) Curse of Misfortunes - 4 and a black for a curse that searches out other curses, rare at that so it makes it a lot easier personally, interesting but it only searches for curses you don't have on the field.

#57) Curse of Thirst - A curse that deals damage equal to the number of curses on one player during their upkeep, right costs 4 and a black and is a common, sorry.

#58) Deadly Allure - 1 black mana for a combat trick that grants deathtouch and forces a blocker to block, not bad, has a flashback cost of 1 green mana at that so Black/Green looks nice now, other then that limited has this one.

#59) Death's Caress - 3, black, black for a sorcery that destroys a target creature but if it was a human you gain life equal to it's toughness, lame much.

#60) Falkenrath Torturer - 2 and a black for a 2/1 common that you can sacrifice a creature to gain flying, if it was a human put a +1/+1 counter on him, really if he had deathtouch he'd remind me of a young Vampire Nighthawk

#61) Farbog Bonefinger - 4 and a black for a 2/2 that when it enters the battlefield, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn, decent if your playing zombies in limited.

#62) Fiend of the Shadows - Intro pack rare no 3, costs 3, Black, Black and is a Vampire Wizard, major beef with this is the mana cost is a high one considering the fact we've got better rares already in this set.

#63) Geralf's Messenger - Triple black for a 3/2 that enters the battlefield tapped, has undying and when it enters the battlefield target player loses 2 life, did i mention this is a rare too, wow 2 rares in a row here.

#64) Gravecrawler - Buy a box promo card, is a 2/1 zombie that costs 1 black mana, can't block but it can be cast from the graveyard as long as you control a zombie, sweet.

#65) Gravepurge - 2 and a black for a instant common that puts any number of target creatures on top of it's owner's library, draw a card too, great recursion.

#66) Gruesome Discovery - 2, Black, Black for a sorcery that is a common, makes a player 2 cards, has morbid where morbid states if a creature died this turn, choose two cards from that player's hand and that player discards them, really limited material here.

#67) Harrowing Journey - 4 and a black for a sorcery that draws 3 cards, that player loses 3 life too, wouldn't ever play this outta limited.

#68) Highborn Ghoul - 2 black for a 2/1 intimidate common, maybe

#69) Increasing Ambition - 4 and a black mana for a tutor effect that fetches one card from your library of your choice, but if it was cast from a graveyard search for 2 cards this way, put them into your hand and shuffle the library, but the flashback cost is kinda high at 7 and a black, EDH material here.

#70) Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - What's this a black legendary, oh wait it's mikaeus just undead, yes he died along with most humans, transforming into a zombie, 3, Black, Black, Black mythic rare, 5/5 for a Intimidate, destroy any humans whom deal combat damage to you, grants +1/+1 and undying to all non humans, so making this worthwhile is sweet, this happens to be one of the better mythics for the set.

#71) Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed - Prerelease card, the demons are 4/4 and 9/9 with the first one transforming when you can sacrifice a human at sorcery speed, the second having trample, flying and a upkeep cost to sacrifice a human otherwise it taps, deals 9 damage to you, wow.

#72) Sightless Ghoul - 3 and a black for a no blocker that has undying and is a 2/2 no thanks

#73) Reap the Seagraf - 2 and a black for a zombie creature token generator with a flashback cost of 4 and a blue mana

#74) Skirsdag Flayer - 1 and a black mana for a common that's a 1/1, pay 3 and a black, tap it and sacrifice a human, you can destroy target creature, am i reading this right is this a creature with doom blade on it, nice limited material here.

#75) Spiteful Shadows - 1 and a black for a aura enchantment that attaches to target creature, whenever it deals damage, double it, lame much

#76) Tragic Slip - 1 black for a instant speed common that gives a creature -1/-1 until end of turn, with a morbid ability that bumps it up to -13/-13 until end of turn, i think this is going to end up replacing Dismember in construted honestly.

#77) Undying Evil - 1 black for mana for a instant that grants undying until end of turn, wow way to promote the mechanic.

#78) Vengeful Vampire - 3/2 flyer, undying 6 drop not in my formats.

#79) Wakedancer - 2 and a black for a 2/2 that has morbid when it enters the battlefield if something died, put a 2/2 zombie creature token on your side of the field, not bad honestly.

#80) Zombie Apocalypse - Did i read this right, a sorcery that costs 3, Black, Black, Black and returns all zombies you control from the graveyard to the battlefield tapped, as well as blowing up all humans sweet

Well that's all she wrote for part 3, tommorow will be part 4 as promised.

Dark Ascension Spoilers Part 2: Blue

2012-01-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

White gave us some good cards this time around for Dark Ascension, but we've yet to see the blue cards in this set which are following up the excellence of last year's blue cards in Innistrad featuring Snapcaster Mage so let's see what wizards is going to give blue players this set.

#27) Artful Dodge - 1 blue mana for a sorcery that makes a target creature unblockable, has a flashback cost of 1 blue mana and is a common, wouldn't even bother to draft this, unless i didn't draft Invisible Stalker instead

#28) Beguiler of Wills - A mythic for blue, say it ain't so batman, a 1/1 for 5 mana that taps to take control of target creature, say what, a glass cannon sorry your princess is in another castle.

#29) Bone to Ash - 2, blue, blue for a instant speed common that is a counter spell that lets you draw a card, finally something worthwhile for limited control, pair it with Dissipate and you have some nasty counter spells.

#30) Call to the Kindred - 3, blue for a enchantment aura that is a rare, allows you to look at the top five cards of your library, put a creature that shares a creature type with the enchanted creature onto the battlefield for free at the beginning of your upkeep, whoa much, seriously a decent rare if i do say so.

#31) Chant of the Skifsang - 2 and a blue for a common aura that gives a creature -13/-0 when it comes into play attaching itself to a creature, not bad, not good.

#32) Chill of Foreboding - 2, blue for a sorcery that's a uncommon and has a flashback cost of 7 and a blue, mills the top 5 cards of your library, good in limited not

#33) Counterlash - Ok so magic just got a bad ass counter spell, 6 mana for a counter spell that when it counters something you get to cast the exact same type of card countered this way for free, regardless of casting cost, really and it's a rare.

#34) Curse of Echoes - 4 and a blue for a curse that copies spells and sets them loose on other targets, great for a multiplayer game, but also great for limited if you can draft it.

#35) Divination - Well this is getting a reprint, second reprint of the set, 2 and a blue for a sorcery that's a common, draw 2 cards, don't we already have this in the core set.

#36) Dungeon Geists - 2, blue, blue for a rare that's a 3/3 and flies, when it enters the battlefield it taps a creature and that creature doesn't untap while this exists on the battlefield, not bad for a blue rare, but again this set isn't impressing me a lot.

#37) Geralf's Mindcrusher - 4, blue, blue for a rare that when it enters the battlefield target player puts the top 5 cards of his or her library onto the battlefield, has undying and it is a 5/5 to boot, really too expensive for a rare honestly.

#38) Griptide - 3 and a blue for a instant speed common that puts a target creature on top of it's owner's library really lame.

#39) Havengul Runebinder - 4 mana rare that's another intro pack rare, is a Human Wizard at that so gives the humans a new target but it's abilites are left to be desired.

#40) Headless Skaab - 2 and a blue for a 3/6 that makes you exile creatures from your graveyard to cast, as well as entering the battlefield tapped, sorry for limited only.

#41) Increasing Confusion - So mill has it's new spell for X and 1 blue, you put the X cards where X is the number of mana paid for X into target player's graveyard, if it was cast from a graveyard put double the number of X instead and it has flashback of X and 1 Blue mana, seriously sweet.

#42) Mystic Retrieval - So for 3 and a blue you get a sorcery that's a uncommon that returns a target instant or sorcery card back to your hand and has a flashback cost of 2 and a red mana, so Burning Vengeance anyone.

#43) Nephalia Seakite - 3 and a blue for a Flash, Flying 2/3 not.

#44) Niblis of the Breath - Another niblis 2 and a blue for a 2/1 flyer that you can pay 1 blue and tap it to untap target creature, not bad in limited.

#45) Relentless Skaabs - 3, blue and blue for a 4/4 that you have to exile a creature from your graveyard to cast and it has undying, hmm interesting limited material here folks.

#46) Saving Grasp - 1 blue for a instant that bounces a creature you control back to your hand and has a flashback cost of 1 white mana, very impressive here for a dual Unsummon for your creatures

#47) Screeching Skaab - 2/1 for a 2 drop that mills the top two cards of your library when it enters the battlefield, great zombie fodder, but not as good as Deranged Assistant

#48) Secrets of the Dead - You know Burning Vengeance smells good right about now honestly, for 2 and a blue you get a enchantment that states, whenever you cast a spell from the graveyard, draw a card, at the uncommon level too, very sweet

#49) Shriekgeist - 1/1 flyer for 2 mana that whenever it deals combat damage to a player that player puts the top two cards of their library into the graveyard, wow for a common it's sick tech for limited.

#50) Soul Seizer/Ghastly Haunting - A creature that when it deals combat damage, flies and is a 1/3 that transforms into a enchantment - aura that is another Mind Control seriously why wizards would you do this.

#51) Stormbound Geist - 1, blue, blue for a 2/2 that has flying, but has undying and can only block other flyers, not bad for a 3 drop in this limited format.

#52) Thought Scour - 1 blue mana for a instant speed common that mills, draws a card and puts you on track to basically win via Laboratory Maniac not bad, not bad at all in limited.

#53) Tower Geist - 3 and a blue for a 2/2 flyer that when it enters the battlefield you look at the top 2 cards of your library and draw one, putting the other on the bottom of the library, not bad for a creature honestly and it's a uncommon so even better.

Anyways that's it for Part 2 of these spoilers, stay tuned tommorow for Parts 3 and 4, Black and Red the good stuff.

Dark Ascension Spoilers Part 1: White

2012-01-24T05:09:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to another set of spoilers for the emporium, this time it's on the set Dark Ascension which hits store shelves in Feburary, this first edition as always covers the white cards, which are going to be in chronological order for these spoilers as always so let's begin.

#1) Archangel's Light - First card of the set and it's a mythic oh great, 7 and a white to cast and it's a sorcery that states, gain 2 life for each card in your graveyard, then shuffle your graveyard into your library, really good EDH material here.

#2) Bar the Door - 2 and a white mana for a instant speed spell that gives your creatures +0/+4 until end of turn and it's a common, limited material much here.

#3) Break of Day - 1 and a white to play for a instant speed spell that gives creatures you control a +1/+1 boost until end of turn and it also has fateful hour which gives them indestruciblity which is still just another combat trick honestly.

#4) Burden of Guilt - Lame 1 white drop enchantment is lame next.

#5) Curse of Exhaustion - 2, white, white for a curse that basically prevents the player it is attached from playing more then one spell, no thanks vladmir i'm not touching this out of limited.

#6) Elguad Inquisitor - 3 and a white mana for a 2/2 cleric that when it dies it produces a 1/1 white spirit with flying, sorry rather have Doomed Traveler

#7) Faith's Shield - 1 white mana for a target creature gets protection from the color of your choice till end of turn, has fateful hour which gives you and all creatures you control protection instead, not bad in limited.

#8) Gather the Townsfolk - A 2 mana sorcery that generates 2 1/1 white human creature tokens, has the new ability Fateful Hour which states at 5 life or less, put 5 of those tokens onto the battlefield instead, seriously this is stupidly good for a sorcery, expect this in human decks and possibly with another DKA card.

#9) Gavony Outwright - 2 and a white for a 1/4 that has fateful hour and it gives other creatures you control +1/+4, lame much.

#10) Hollowhenge Spirit - 2/2 for a 4 drop flyer that removes target attacking or blocking creature from combat, really good spirit here for limited.

#11) Increasing Devotion - A sweet token generator folks, this for 3, White, White is seriously good, the flashback cost though is iffy but with a little help from Snapcaster Mage the flashback can be reduced, plus this is a sweet finisher.

#12) Lingering Souls - 2 and a white for a instant token generator that has a flashback cost of 1 and a black mana, uncommon. Um wow much this is going to Black/White token material for sure, i will admit that much.

#13) Loyal Cathar/Unhallowed Cathar - First DFC of the set, a 2/2 and a 2/1, the 2/2 costs 2 white mana is a uncommon, has vigilance and when it dies transform it, the 2/1 is a black card that cannot block but is great for attacking, limited fodder.

#14) Midnight Guard - 2/3 for 3 mana that when another creature enters the battlefield untap it, not bad, not bad at all for a 2/3 honestly one of the more fruitful commons

#15) Niblis of the Mist - 2 and a white for a 2/1 that when it enters the battlefield you get to tap target creature, it has flying as well as being a common, interesting not.

#16) Niblis of the Urn - 1/1 for 2 mana, flyer and when it attacks you get to tap target creature, better at least then the last one.

#17) Ray of Revelation - 1 and a white for a instant speed enchantment removal, with a flashback cost of 1 green mana, nice to see this back for standard.

#18) Requiem Angel - 6 mana for a 5/5 flyer that when other things die on your side of the field you get to produce a 1/1 white spirit creature token in it's place, great for EDH honestly.

#19) Sanctuary Cat - Vanilla creature is stilll vanilla next.

#20) Seance - Another copying enchantment, similar to mimic vat, costs 2, white and a white, is a rare and basically states you can exile a creature from your graveyard and put a token into place where that token is a copy of that creature exiled this way, exile the token at the beginning of the next end step, really this is my least favorite rare so far.

#21) Silverclaw Griffin - 3, white, white for a flying, first strike 3/2, uh too over costed.

#22) Skillful Lunge - Instant speed spells that cost 1 and a white are some times good, this grants a creature +2/+0 and first strike until end of the turn, combat trick much.

#23) Sudden Dissapearance - 5 and a white for a sorcery that exiles all the non land permanents that a player controls, is a rare at that and they don't return to the field till the next end step, very nice.

#24) Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - So you get a 2/1 first striker that is a rare for 2 mana, noncreature spells costs 1 more to cast, this is so sick i'm happy to finally see a legendary in this set.

#25) Thraben Doomsayer - 1, White and a White for a 2/2 rare that generates 1/1 tokens each time you tap it, has Fateful hour which states at 5 life or less creatures you control get +2/+2 seriously this isn't a legendary either, oh god ok this is sick tech.

#26) Thraben Heretic - 1, white for a 2/2 that you can tap to exile creatures from the graveyard, really good in limited.

Anyways that's it for the white cards of the set, stay tuned for the blue cards of Dark Ascension.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 4, Week 2

2012-01-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to this rather lackluster edition of the Dark Ascension spoilers, i'm vergil who hates the weather changing constantly cause it makes me sick as a dog, let's check out what was spoiled today in terms of cards.

So the judges in New Zealand and Australlia showed this one off, it's called Lost in the Woods for 5 mana you get a enchantment that is a rare, whenever a creature attacks you or a walker you control reveal the top card of your library, if it's a forest card remove that creature from combat, the put the revealed card on the bottom of your library, sounds like a handy dandy Fog effect to me anyways sounds good but we will see onto card #2.

The third addition to the Increasing cycle which is called Increasing Savagery, wow it's pretty damn decent honestly, puts 5 +1/+1 counters on something, if it was cast from a graveyard put 10 of em on a creature instead, flashback is 5, green, green and it's a rare as expected, i like this card a lot and it has some usefulness to me at least now in EDH.

Geralf's Messenger is the 3rd card of the day, rare, 3/2 with undying, when it enters the battlefield it enters tapped and a opponent loses 2 life, costs 3 black mana to play and is a zombie, this i feel is the missing piece to the zombie deck i wanted to see honestly, good on you wizards.

The final card of the day is Sudden Disappearance which costs 5 and a white mana, is a rare and it's a sorcery that exiles all non land permanents target player controls, return the exiled cards to the battlefield under their owner's control at the beginning of the next end step. This itself is a way to win since you can target your opponent and prevent him from blocking for a huge way to win, but at 6 mana i'd honestly rather play a Titan right now, there are a lot of 6 mana cards in this set for some reason. Anyways that's it for me for today, tommorow i'm going to show off the last cards of this week and all that neat stuff, until next time this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 3, Week 2

2012-01-18T05:46:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone let's get straight down to business in this edition with the 6 sweet previews for Dark Ascension.

Oh what's this token generator with Flashback, oh this looks so sweet to play, wait flashback is in Black, so Black/White tokens is legit now, oh god oh dear, yeah, oh look we got our 10th mythic today.

Helavault, Legendary artifact that sucks honestly i don't like it, Mythic rare that basically exiles stuff like Karn does, costs 3 mana but it's secondary ability costs 7 mana to use honestly i'd rather use Karn till he rotates honestly.

Boston Examiner previewed this eh, Markov Blademaster 1/1 rare for 1, red, red double striker and when it deals combat damage it gets +1/+1 counters on it, howdy red deck wins.

Stromkirk Captain eh, 2/2 for 1, red, black, first striker, other vamps get +1/+1 and first strike, lordy lord oh my goodness i like this guy he's legitimate for Black/Red vampires now, with a lot of em entering into this set, expect to see a good Red/Black vamps deck show up.

Honestly limited fodder is still fodder but good fodder none the less, Thought Scour is the latest self mill spell for Blue, costs 1 blue, you put the top two cards of a library into target player's graveyard, draw a card, not bad, you get rewarded with a reload card, not bad at all, expect this to be maybe 8th pick in limited.

Oh hai Fling welcome back to the format again, yes it's legit for 2 sets this particular card, M12 has it and now Dark Ascension, much like Innistrad went and got a reprint of Naturalize for itself. we all know what it does right, right, good anyways that's all the sweet little previews today, tommorow we get more, until then this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 2, Week 2

2012-01-17T05:53:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back, Day 2 of week 2 in the Dark Ascension spoiler season of course, i'm vergil and let's check out the one card i missed yesterday which is Vault of the Archangel

Ok, first rare land, nice, adds 1 to your mana pool, 2, white and a black grant all your creatures deathtouch and lifelink until end of turn, holy crap that's just nuts honestly, Black/White tokens is now legit folks, quite legit.

Grafdigger's Cage is kinda similar to Witchbane Orb except it prevents Undying from triggering at all, interesting and it stops Birthing Pod, perfect sideboard card don't you agree.

Warden of the Wall is a neat little limited card that works quite handily on your opponent's turn, turning intoa 2/3 flyer that can block while generating mana, interesting.

Deadly Allure grants a neat little combat trick when needed, deathtouch and forcing a block, while having flashback, as a uncommon it's defintely limited material.

Predator Ooze is my favorite card of the day, invincible, gets +1/+1 counters when it attacks and a creature dealt damage by it dies, costs a mere 3 green for a 1/1 rare, sick.

Feed the Pack is a nice little token generator when you sacrifice creatures to it, espically 13 toughness creatures like Ludevic's Abomination and feels much like Army of the Damned but does a lot more of course.

Last but most certainly not least is Hellrider a 3/3 haste that whenever a creature you control attacks, this deals 1 damage to defending player, this is so red's style of choice of course and it's a rare so don't expect this to be to going around in Drafts all the time folks, so anyways that is it for today's previews, stay tuned tommorow for Day 3 of week 2, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 1, Week 2

2012-01-16T04:55:00.000-08:00

Hello all and welcome to DKA spoilers for the 2nd week, let's get straight into the action with yesterday's only missed card first, courtesy of the magic show from evan erwin.

Wow 5/4 vigilance, trampler with undying, pod decks are gonna love you, for sure, Mythic rare and it costs 2, green, green, green that's the only thing that worries me is the mana cost for this particular mythic, other then that i think this is pretty good for a mythic rare.

So someone ordered a new Mikaeus, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed at that, 5/5 intimidate, 3, black, black and black, whenever a human deals damage to you destroy it, say what, whoa and other non humans get +1/+1 and have undying, so this enables undying for your creatures, sweet, oh did i mention it's a mythic rare as well, yeah we kinda have 8 mythics now.

Wait a minute, haven't we seen this guy before, on the one of the intro packs that's right, so we know his stats now and all that, 4/2 for a undying creature, whenever Flayer of the Hatebound or another creature enters the battlefield from your graveyard, that creature deals damage equal to it's power to target creature or player, oh my goodness this is a johnny card for sure, i love this thing it's second ability is just bonkers good, which is why i like it, good job wizards. Anyways that's about it for today, as per usual tommorow if i miss anything well it gets covered first, until next time fine folks, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 5, Week 1

2012-01-13T04:04:00.000-08:00

Howdy folks and welcome to this friday edition of the emporium as usual, it's DKA spoiler season let's get down to business now.

First on the block is a new DFC named Afflicted Deserter/Werewolf Ransacker which has a art that looks familar, i guess i was wrong, sorry.

Beguiler of Wills is basically a mythic mind control on a body, which is kind of fragile personally

Wolfbitten Captive/Krallenhorde Killer is ridiculously good, as well as being easy to cast 1 green mana at that.

Huntmaster of the Fells/Ravager of the Fells is the DFC mythic of the set it looks like or it could be 1 of 2 for the set, good mythic at that too.

Intro pack rare #2 in Fiend of the Shadows which turns out to be damn good, i'd write more if i had more time but this is all the time i have for today, week 2 begins on monday, this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 4, Week 1

2012-01-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the DKA spoilers for thursday of week 1, let's see what we missed yesterday first.

So we missed only this yesterday, a enchantment that costs 3 mana, is a rare, allows the player controlling this to basically exile dead creatures and turn them into tokens, exiling the token at the next end step, interesting but irrevlant, let's move onto today's previews.

How about a legendary creature to start with in the form of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben whom costs only 2 mana, is a rare, has first strike, is a 2/1 and noncreature spells costs 1 more to cast, sweet control card yo, alright let's see what else we got today.

New DFC anyone, a green called Lambholt Elder/Silverpelt Werewolf 1/2 and 4/5 respectively, the elder has the simple transform clause while the wolf when it deals combat damage draw a card and the standard werewolf transform.

Introducing Havengul Lich, does he look familar yeah, i was dead wrong ok i'm sorry 4/4 for a 3 mana, blue and a black mythic rare that states pay 1 mana to cast target creature from a graveyard, when you cast it, Havengul Lich gains all activated abilites of that card until end of turn, sweet much this is sick tech seriously anyways that's it for me for today, short but sweet edition this is vergil signing off.

Rogue Deckbuilers 101: Burning Vengeance

2012-01-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, in today's edition it's time to take a look at a card which i feel might make rogue deckbuilders jealous, in the form of Burning Vengeance which is a Innistrad enchantment similar to the format i use for the Card Examinations on Final smash let's take a look at the Vengeance.

So how are we going to use this particular enchantment which costs 2 and a red mana, well there are quite few cards out there with Flashback these days and if we go Blue/Red we might have a shot since there are alot of mana fixers out there to help us along with this deck, let's first build the list and i will explain my choices

Creatures wise we will need some form of protection, Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets seem to be our best options for this deck, along with the obvious but ever helpful Chandra's Phoenix in this list to make up the main creature base of the deck, so here's the creature base i had in mind for this particular list.

Creatures
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Delver of Secrets

Since we need lots of spells in the deck let's breakdown what Flashback spells we are able to use in this deck first.

Instants
- Ancient Grudge
- Cackling Counterpart
- Desperate Ravings
- Dream Twist
- Forbidden Alchemy
- Geistflame
- Memory's Journey
- Think Twice

Sorceries
- Devil's Play
- Grasp of Phantoms
- Nightbird's Clutches
- Past in Flames
- Rolling Temblor
- Silent Departure

So that's the Innistrad sorceries and Instants for this potential deck, that we can use for Flashback, but there are at least 3 Dark Ascension cards we can use for the deck potentially, Faithless Looting, Secrets of the Dead and Altar of the Lost which all help towards flashback in some way shape or form, but we can also use non flashback style spells for the deck, since we are in Blue/Red for the deck let's take a look at the top 5 of each color used lately

Blue
- Mana Leak
- Ponder
- Dissipate
- Negate
- Flashfreeze

Red
- Incinerate
- Gut Shot
- Brimstone Volley
- Galvanic Blast
- Desperate Ravings

So out of all the listed cards i posted above what would work in this list, Blue/Red tempo control might work with Burning Vengeance as a finisher card for all our good flashback material spells, here's my list for the spells for the deck besides the obvious 4 copies of Burning Vengeance

Spells
3 Dissipate
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Faithless Looting
3 Gut Shot
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Galvanic Blast
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Mana Leak
2 Vapor Snag

With the sideboarding having the following for the deck itself

Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Mana Leak
2 Flashfreeze
3 Shatter
1 Dissipate
1 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Vapor Snag
1 Devil's Play
2 Galvanic Blast

That's a pretty diverse sideboard for the deck i feel, since the meta is all about Tempered Steel/Green/White humans these days, so test with this sideboard at your own lesiure and tell me in the comments of this article what your sideboard is for the deck, i want everyone to at least adapt the original sideboard.

Lands for the deck are pretty basic

Lands
4 Sulfur Falls
9 Mountain
10 Island

Here's the final list for the deck when you go to build it of course

U/R Burning Vengeance

Creatures
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Chandra's Phoenix
4x Delver of Secrets

Spells
3 Dissipate
4 Burning Vengeance
4 Faithless Looting
3 Gut Shot
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Galvanic Blast
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Mana Leak
2 Vapor Snag

Lands
4 Sulfur Falls
9 Mountain
10 Island

Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Mana Leak
2 Flashfreeze
3 Shatter
1 Dissipate
1 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Vapor Snag
1 Devil's Play
2 Galvanic Blast

Let me explain the sideboard a bit for you folks, the 4th chandra's phoenix is in here to basically go for the more heavy red decks in Red Deck Wins, espically as a blocker against a 4/4 koth'ed mountain in this format, we have a bunch of counter spells for situational purposes including the 4th Dissipate and Mana Leak and all the basic spells to go with Burning Vengeance, for anyone whom tries to use this deck keep in mind lots of testing is needed so use Cockatrice or Magic Workstation to test, other then i wish you rogue builders a lot of luck, till next time this is vergil signing off

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 3, Week 1

2012-01-11T05:20:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to yet another edition of the emporium, we are in the midst of the middle of week 1 of Dark Ascension spoiler season, but first let's take a look back at the missed cards that were previewed yesterday, with the first mythic of the set, Drogskol Reaver

Now just take it easy, this is so a timmy card if you ask me, a 3/5 flying, double striker with lifelink and whenever you gain life, draw a card, but the mana cost ugh, 5, white and a blue for this gold bordered card, i'd much prefer EDH thank you very much for this card, anyways let's see what else was spoiled yesterday shall we.

How bout a Jar of Eyeballs for lunch eh, nah i kid this one is a doozy, whenever a creature dies on your side of the field put 2 eyeball counters on it. Pay 3 and tap it to remove all eyeball counters from it, look at the top X cards of your library where X is the number of counters removed this way, put one of em into your hand and the rest on the bottom of the library in any order, gotta say that sucks honestly, also why are all the artifacts 3 mana cost, i wonder.

Seriously a 10/10 zombie treefolk named Ghoultree, yes much, it's a rare as expected and it has the ability ghoultree costs 1 less to cast for each creature in your graveyard, sweet very sweet in my EDH deck replacing probably Kozilek in my deck yes much, other then EDH this is really lack luster as expected, sorry wizards. Now let's move onto the actual previews for today.

Yes a brand new Sorin, but he's Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Mythic rare, has 3 abilites +1 put a 1/1 black vampire creature token onto the battlefield with lifelink. -2 you get a emblem with Creatures you control get +1/+0, -6 his ultimate destroy up to three target creatures and/or other planeswallkers, return each card put into a graveyard this way to the battlefield under your control, he also has 3 loyalty, god this is good.

Third gold card this article, introducing Falkenrath Aristocrat a 4/1 flying haste, Mythic rare, sacrifice a creature: Falkenrath aristocrat is indestrucible this turn, if the sacrificed creature was a human put a +1/+1 counter on it, wow, this is sick folks, this is sick for sure.

Third mythic rare spoiled today in the form of Moonveil Dragon which has flying, is a 5/5 and gives each creature you control +1/+0 until end of turn, but the cost to summon his butt is 3, red, red, red whoa triple red ugh that's a turn off but at least it's only 6 mana eh.

Introducing Scorned Villager/Moonscarred Werewolf another DFC for the set, a common that costs 1 and a green and taps to add 1 green to your mana pool, if no spells were played transform it, it changes into Moonscarred werewolf which has vigilance, taps to add 2 green to your mana pool and is a 2/2, interesting.

Another enchantment in the form of Secret of the Dead whenever you cast a spell from the your graveyard, draw a card, so it's a card draw engine for flashback, interesting, costs 2 and a blue to play as a uncommon so this might have usefulness i think, anyways that's it for today, stay tuned tommorow for Day 4 this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 2, Week 1

2012-01-10T05:14:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, in today's edition we will take a look at the 2 cards that were spoiled today via wizards of the coast, so without further ado let's begin.

Ok so there seems to be a pattern here with these Increasing cards, first the blue one, now this, but let's see for 3, white, white you get 5 1/1's and if it was cast from a graveyard you get 10 of those tokens instead and it has a flashback cost of whoa, 7, white, white and it's a rare, holy crap wizards way to impress the EDH crowd here, but this could also be used as a finisher for Green/White tokens this days, possibly as a 1 or 2 of in the deck, since the mana cost is a bit higher then that of a Hero of Bladehold let's move onto the second card today.

Oh my goodness, Altar of the Lost is such a unique card, it's going to for sure power a Burning Vengeance deck for sure, since flashback is a thing again and wow this thing makes it worth it, Snapcaster Mage, plus this balls good anyways that's it for today's previews, yes a very short edition compared to yesterday i guess wizards wanted to give us a break from the madness anyways this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Promotion Cards

2012-01-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, in this edition it's Dark Ascension promos time.

We already know about Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed being our prerelease promos, as well as this next card.

Mondronen Shaman/Tovolar's Magehunter being the release cards, but what about Game Day, let's take a look

Game Day for this set features Strangleroot Geist in full art form with new art as always as the particpation card for game day, with this next card as the top 8 card for the set.

Full art Zombie Apocalypse anyone, yes this is the top 8 card for the set for game days all round the world as per usual, onto our buy a box promo

Alternate art Gravecrawler anyone, ah yes this is the Buy-a-Box promo card for Dark Ascension and is perhaps one of the better promo cards in this writer's humble opinion, anyways that's it for this short but sweet edition, till next time this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Spoilers: Day 1, Week 1

2012-01-09T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and it's spoiler season, so let's get cracking onto it.

Let's start with the new Double Faced Cards, so this is Chalice of Life and Chalice of Death which are new non creature DFC's of course, Chalice of Life gives 1 life and it's transform clause is if you have more then 10 life more then your starting life total, transform it, so you have to have 30 life to transform it, it changes into Chalice of Death which states Target player loses 5 life, not bad.

Next DFC is all about changing into a aura, introducing Soul Seizer and Ghastly Haunting, which are the second DFC of this set, Soul seizer is a creature that's 1/3, flys and whenever it deals combat damage to a player transform it, if you do attach it to target creature that player controls, costs 5 mana and is a uncommon. Ghastly haunting however is a aura that enchants target creature, you control that creature, so think of Mind Control in DFC form.

This here is the prerelease card for Dark Ascension, it's called Ravenous Demon/Archdemon of Greed and it is the 3rd DFC of this set, Ravenous Demon is a 5 cmc rare that you can sacrifice a human to transform it into Archdemon of Greed, is a 4/4 which isn't bad. Archdemon however is a 9/9 with flying, trample and at the beginning of your upkeep tap Archdemon of Green and it deals 9 damage to you, whoa serious reprecussions.

Last but certainly not least is the Release card for Dark Ascension, introducing Mondronen Shaman and Tovolar's Magehunter which are the final DFC revealed for today, it's a rare, the shaman is a 3/2 that has the basic transform if no spells were played clause, while the magehunter has whenever a opponent casts a spell, it deals 2 damage to that player, if two or more spells were cast last turn, transform it, it's a 5/5 not bad.

Introducing Zombie Apocalypse, it's the newest rare from wizards, costs 3, Black, Black, Black and it states Return all zombie creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped, then destroy all humans. wow seriously wow much.

Here we have another flashback card, Increasing Confusion, it's a X and Blue mana rare, sorcery that puts the top cards where X is the number, if it was cast from a graveyard, it puts twice that many cards in, has a flashback cost of X and Blue as well

Ray of Relevation basically is the new enchantment removal for Humans, it costs 1 and a white, has a flashback cost of Green mana and it states destroy target enchantment simple

Gravecrawler is a new zombie, 2/1 for 1 black, you can cast it from a graveyard as long as you control a zombie but it can't block it's pretty good.

Introducing the new ability Fateful Hour, which has a specific clause to it, it kicks in at 5 life or less and do the clause it, this is the first one of two with this, Gather the Townsfolk which is a sorcery that puts 2 1/1 white humans onto the battlefield, but fateful hour can put 5, is a common and is very very persistent.

Thraben Doomsayer is a Human cleric and a rare that generates a 1/1 white human token everytime you tap, it has Fateful Hour, as long as you have 5 life or less, other creatures you control get +2/+2 and is a 2/2 that costs 3 mana.

Of course Morbid's back why wouldn't it be, this new morbid starts with Hunger of the Howlpack, you put a +1/+1 counter on target creature but morbid puts 3 of those if a creature died, it costs 1 Green mana as well as a common and a instant.

Curses are back too with Curse of Thirst which deals damage during upkeep by the number of curses attached to that player, costs a hefty 4 and a Black though as a uncommon.

Introducing the second of the 2 new mechanics Undying which gives the creature when it dies a +1/+1 counter and brings it back, so this is Nearheath Stalker and it has Undying, it's a 4/1 common and when it dies it will become a 5/2 got it, let's look at another example.

This is Strangeroot Geist and it too has the new term Undying, it has haste is a 2/1 that costs 2 green mana, is a uncommon and when it dies it will become a 3/2 ok, anyways that's it for DKA previews for today, we will see you next time, which is tommorow for DKA previews this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Intro Packs

2012-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to this special sunday edition of the emporium, spoiler season starts tommorow for those curious souls of course, but today, thanks to the folks at Gathering Magic, we have learned of the 5 intro packs for Dark Ascension, so let's take a look see at them.

The first one is my second favorite color combination, Black and White, this rare is known as Fiend of the Shadows, costs 3, Black and Black, is a vampire wizard and that is all we know of it, well fiends often fly so expect to see flying on this one at least, other abilites are yet unkown.

Blue and Black's rare intro pack card of choice this time is Havengul Runebinder, it costs 2, Blue and Blue, is a human wizard, while this is my favorite color combination of all time, it really leaves speculation for these wide open till we learn what these do.

Blue and Green's Intro pack of choice features a treefolk, but it's a zombie treefolk, named Ghoultree costing 7 and a green mana, is a rare of course and would probably have some seriously high toughness since it's a tree and a zombie, leaving ideas of it's abilites of course always open to the imagination.

Ah White and Red, how do you do once more, this particuar intro pack rare is known as Requiem Angel costing what appears to be 5 and a white mana, unknown if there is more cost to her, we will have to wait and see, she's a angel and with angels they would fly of course giving the static ability of Flying to her, though that's all we know of her so far.

Meet Red and Green's intro pack rare, Flayer of the Hatebound, costing a lavish 5 and a red mana, is a devil of course and perhaps is the best intro pack color choice as always, though we will have to wait and see what this guy does since devils can be crafty little buggers, anyways that's it for this sunday edition of the emporium, spoilers start Monday, so until then this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Arts #2

2012-01-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of the emporium, in this edition the recent arts that wizards have spoiled are the main topic once again, but there is a difference, there are 11 different arts instead of 10 from the previous edition of this mini series, so with that in mind let's begin

So with this first art in question it's time to see what Dark Ascension offers, ok let's start this one so as per one can tell this is obviously a human fending off several cursed werewolves with plenty of silver at that, a silver sword, shield and the other necessary tools to do the job, it seems like he is a defender type card by doing this or something along those lines but one cannot be certain of this.

This seems oddly familar of course, Ludevic's Test Subject anyone because of the lab feel this picture offers, so i believe it's the continuation of that particular card or something but a spell form, probably blue for sure at this rate, we will see when the card arrives.

Now what does this particular art remind me of, oh yes Glissa's Scorn but it doesn't have that artifact killing feel, just a death feel to it, making it hard to determine if it's red or black, but putting it mildly i would have to say it is a black based art, since the whole dark and dreary vibe is present.

I really don't know what to classify this as, Blue or perhaps a Red spell, it has something to do with skeletons or something, one can never be too sure these days, i only know that whatever the card is for this art it's sure to be good honestly.

Werewolves, it had to be werewolves seriously i am sick of these things already, but this seems like a creature or a enchantment to me, not a spell since the wolf jumping signifys that there is something going on there, plus the full moon is out for starters, so if it's the after effects of Full Moon's Rise i'll be shocked.

Vampire with a bloody Trepanation Blade usually means bad times for everyone, this one is probably somehow related to Clan Markov in a way, i don't know to be honest since our favorite vampire walker is coming back in this set.

Human cards are going to be scarce in this set i would imagine, this shows why, since the people are scared out of their mind, with demons and that on the rise i'm calling this as a white creature card, no more, no less.

"Batten down the Hatches, secure the Gate" a epic scene of a specific favorite movie of mine, but done in card form, it's so similar to Hold the Line for sure, i'm going to be shocked if i am wrong.

Curses, why did it have to be curses honestly, i'm not a big fan of these cards, this art though is cool and i would for sure like to see a curse removal other then Witchbane Orb but another curse come on wizards.

Legendary Werewolf alert, this guy screams legendary creature to me, no doubt about it, much like how we had a Zombie legend, spirit legend, vampire legend, this guy has yet to give people a reason to fear the dark.

Anyways that's it for this edition of the emporium, on monday begins DKA previews, yay, anyways that is it and this is vergil signing off.

Dark Ascension Arts

2012-01-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

So hello everyone and welcome to the first edition of the emporium for 2012, i'm vergil and it's great to be back for a new year, with a normal work day in the United States it means wizards of the coast is back in operation once more meaning we have Dark Ascension updates and stuff for you to view, so without further ado let's begin this edition, this first art is a familiar one we've seen before

Yes this particular dark and gloomy piece is also a playmat art, what it is for i do not know, but i can assure you fine folks at home that it's one of the 158 cards in Dark Ascension, probably black if i had to guess, this next piece is a bit different and little more humane

With Dark ascension there are always things that go bump in the night, my guess is this is either a DFC or a white card, based off the human shown here, holding what appears to be a lit torch, interesting but i'd rather not speculate on this particular piece any longer, let's look at the next piece shall we?

Blood is a significant theme in this set, with cards like Curse of the Bloody Tome already, but it seems to be more like a reflection card like Evil Twin, if i had to guess though i'm calling this is a blue or red card most likely based off the theme in the mirror, onto another piece of art.

Ah yes what would a horror set be without a half dead man, in a crypt no less which is not that much of a surprise, with the horror theme in this set i would have to place this as a black card art, with significant ties to specific undead cards already in the set, onto the next art.

Now pardon me for saying this but this art looks seriously cool in all retrospect, the ghost theme or spirit theme rather would grant me to say it's white, green or perhaps even blue based upon how the art of the dead spirits attacking are depicted personally, this is getting to be good in terms of a set, onto the next art piece.

So it seems the dead are indeed returning from being slain again and again, if i had to guess this is defintely black based off the zombie depicted here, we've got enough knowledge of how the horror tropes work in this set to know zombies don't die so easily either, onto the next piece of art.

So it's not just the usual horror fare destroying things, humans also do it too in this set since everything is going to hell in a hand basket so to speak, if i had to guess on the color this art represents it's possibly green in every respect but more likely it's red in the art category, based off the malice shown here, anyways onto another piece of art.

It had to be demons eh, if this is legendary i'll flip cause it doesn't seem so legendary but it's obviously Black or perhaps even Red based off the demon shown here since we did have a few of em in Red in Innistrad personally, i wouldn't be surprised at wizards for shutting my guess down compeletely.

Humans fighting the undead showing me it's white for sure, much like all that remains noble and good in this set as a whole, plus the fact it's a one eyed man gives me some purpose to think it's something of a champion in this set, who knows for sure these days, wizards does.

Wow wizards saved the best art for last as usual, this is a weird skeleton with horns or some stuff like that, very dark, ominous and all that neat stuff when it comes to Dark Ascension, it's defintely black and has some significance to Sorin Markov me thinks, anyways that's it for this edition of the emporium, stay tuned soon i'm sure wizards has some cool stuff to feature for the set, this is vergil signing off.

The Year in Magic the Gathering - 2011 Review

2011-12-31T06:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the year of magic in review, this year has been quite a entertaining one with new products arising, tons of new tournaments as well as new faces to the game and heck even returning legends make a appearance back to magic every once in a while, so with that let's get started on the year in review in magic month by month.

January - With the beginning of a new season there is always tension when it comes to various things in magic, this new season began with a bang taking Extended for a ride in Atlanta, Georgia with the only set of Scars Block, Scars of Mirrodin legal at the time of the event, though it's not to say that Star City Games had it's share of excitement too with their 2011 invitational series underway a few weeks beforehand, Jason Ford took Atlanta by storm and won the whole event with a impressive record to beat Ben Stark 2-1 to take the finals with ease. We also learned a bit about Mirrodin Besieged during the spoiler season for the month with the respective factions of Mirran and Phyrexian having a different promo card for the first time in prerelease history, depending on whom you sided with the Mirrans got a sweet foil edition of Hero of Bladehold while Phyrexian players got a foil Glissa, the Traitor for taking root in the deep oil of the phyrexian menace, spoiler season was fun to say the least for this, we learned of the fact the set was split down the middle 50/50 for both sides with each side having different rares and such like Mirran Crusader and Phyrexian Crusader as well as the fact for the first time ever we had Faction Packs for the event of the prerelease for Mirrodin Besieged which was pretty cool to be honest, but back then there was still the menace of such cards like Lightning Bolt and such that delivered a lot of sweet decks in the game of magic..

February - During the month of february, we learned a lot of new things, for example we learned of the first introduction of Event Decks which were powerful preconstructed decks which could be used at a local FNM event since both decks were standard legal mind you, we also learned a old face from the Shards of Alara block came back in the form of Tezzert, Agent of Bolas which became the staple for Blue/Black short afterwards, as well as having tournaments out the wazoo, with Paris being first at the first ever Magic Weekend Paris, thanks to a rather uncouth year in the player of the year race, we had the first ever player of the year playoff bewteen the United States's Brad Nelson and France's Guillame Matingon for the title of player of the year as well as the typical stage of pro tour paris to go along with it, but thanks to a little cunning from brad nelson we had our 2010 player of the year wrapped up along with the usual winner of the event which was Ben Stark, along with a whole slew of other events during the month the first real competitive month of magic came to a head, ending the month of february in a neat fashion.

March - It was during this time magic had come to a turning point, we had just learned the third set of scars's block was going to be called Action with 2 cards officially spoiled for the set, however it was a slow month for magic as a tournament game, with only one grand prix to speak of during the month of March, which took place in Barcelona and was won by Martin Schenin late in the month of march, magic had also taken a turning point with the recent rise of a certain deck called Caw-Blade which was winning tournaments left right and center, Magic R&D however had announced a quarterly change during the month of march which affected the format of Two Headed Giant and how poison counters worked, it changed from being 10 counters to 15. We were also in the midst of Mirrodin Besieged War league's across the world which would determine the fate of the third and final set which saw the phyrexians winning at every turn to take the lead and would they dominate the world of mirrodin or fail in their quest.

April - This was one of the worst months in recent history for the game, since the leak incident happened during the last 2 weeks of the month, as well as the fact we learned that the 3rd set was going to be called New Phyrexia, worst of all the leaks were caused by a world champion and his friends causing them to get banned from the game for a while, we won't be seeing them for a while yet since the bannings for 2 of the culprits do not end for a year and the remaining two are banned for 3 years, you should not have done that, that's for sure. With the entire set of New Phyrexia basically spoiled it meant for the first time in spoiler history we knew the set inside and out 3 weeks in advance. March/April however brought us a new product in magic for it's Duel Deck series in the form of Knights vs Dragons which had a few good cards for it but not that many, i did however like the new alternate art Knight of the Reliquary that's for sure. Along with new products came new tournaments with Dallas/Fort Worth Texas seeing a standard tournament where it was perfectly legal to play Caw-Blade and Kobe, Japan seeing a extended round of events this time around, as well as Grand Prix London which leaked into the first day of May and that saw us a Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged Booster draft for the last event of the month of April.

May - With the month of may we saw the release of New Phyrexia which hit store shelves on the 13th of May, as well as the fact we had a few things rise and fall in terms of popularity, Infect was becoming more of a dominant threat in magic with the fact the scars block had been completed and the fact we had ourselves another Scars of Mirrodin/Mirrodin Besieged Sealed/Booster draft in Prague, then we moved from Prague to Providence, Rhode Island for the 1st of 2 Legacy events of the season, this really gave us a idea of what to expect from scars block to be popular this season and it showed why Dismember was really high valued even in Legacy of all places, however may didn't have much else in terms of interest for magic, for we moved into the first of 3 months of summer for magic in June.

June - Where to start, with Magic Weekend Nagoya arriving in the first 2 weeks of the month we were treated to a awesome Scars Block Constructed event and Scars draft which pretty much showed why Tempered Steel was still a beast of a deck which dominated scars block constructed the entire weekend, but that wasn't the only big thing happening in June, with June there was a new multiplayer product, or rather a endorsement of a already existing format called Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH, but now there was 5 pre constructed decks for the format with 51 new cards for the thing as well, i know i picked one or two of these up for kicks since EDH is now my favorite of all formats to talk about i dunno about you folks.

July - July gave us another usual core set shenigans again this time with the new arrival of 3 new walkers and 2 old returning friends, Sorin Markov and Gideon Jura whom were replacing Ajani and Lillana respectively for this particular edition, as always though the new walkers are pretty impressive since we got a few new cards for the set in terms of cards named after the walkers including the true fashion of each and every one of the colors, Game Day for this particular core set was decent since we have 2 event decks at this point in time for each set coming out, with the arrival of the core set however also brought another 2 event decks to the table, Illusions and Vampires which were both perfectly legal at the time they showed up, which isn't a surprise to me at all.

August - August is what i like to call spoilers month in magic, it usually brings a new from the vault, this time from the vault: legends arrived on store shelves in late august, we got a sneak peek at innistrad at PAX thanks to the magic conference there as per usual, along with Gen Con we got our fair share of magic during the month of august, but this also gave rise to the spoiler season for Innistrad believe it or not since we learned a few of the cards in the set at this point in time.

September - Not only do i love september as a whole, but i also love the fact it's always a spoiler season month, espically since the fall prerelease falls right around my birthday every year, sweet present to myself if you ask me. Innistrad arrived on store shelves and so did Ajani vs Nicol Bolas which was the latest duel deck in the series of awesome, but it did turn out it kinda tanked honestly, though Innistrad was a new thing with all those sweet horror tropes hitting the scene with vampires, werewolves, spirits and even humans being present in the set, along with sweet new mythic rares.

October - Usually when a fall set becomes legal for events i tend to cringe, but Innistrad was a decent set to draft honestly with cool stuff like Geist of Saint Traft and Olivia Voldaren in the set as a whole it turned out to be a nice change of pace since we all got mythics based around specific colors or tribes of creatures all except for werewolves whom got the shaft but got Garruk, the Veil Cursed/Garruk Relentless the first ever dual faced walker in magic's history which was neat. Game day for this was also kinda nice with two new event decks being present for the 4th time this year, a B/U/G style deck and a White Weenie beatdown deck being constructed for the events in question, as well as any shenigans a player can think of.

November - With november it was time for the final wizards held events of the year, a few GP's and Worlds later the japanese came out on top for the final pro tour worlds event in magic's history, congrats to them for winning it all when it counted, we got us some sweet new standard and modern style decks for the event, as well as a few other things, but with november means the holiday season is upon us and magic has a life of it's own with the holiday season.

December - The final month of magic came and went with a scandal or two, the infamous Star City Games Invitational scandal which saw the winner of the event Alex Bertocinni banned from the DCI and his prizes revoked as well with the titles going to Gerry T and Adam Prozak for player of the year and invitational winner, nice work SCG you earned a bit of respect in my eyes for doing this. The Quarterly bannings also happend with Wild Nacatl and Punishing Fire getting the ban hammer from modern as well giving zoo one less option and the Fire/Grove combo is killed off thanks to the bannings, nothing else was banned either which is a surprise honestly. We also got a sneak peek at Dark Ascension and the new Multiplayer product Planechase 2012 which comes out in June, a super fun idea to bring back which is nice to see honestly, i cannot wait to see Planechase next year.

Anyways that's it for the yearly wrap up, if i missed anything important, lemme know in the comments below, other then that Happy New Year and see you all in 2012, this is vergil signing off.

Banned and Restricted List Update: December 20th, 2011

2011-12-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

It's that time again, hello everyone and welcome to this special edition of the emporium, yes it's the quarterly bannings and unbannings period in magic, this particular edition we have 2 cards to talk about being banned which are Punishing Fire and Wild Nacatl believe it or not, so let's get down to the bannings as a whole

In all the other formats today nothing got banned believe it or not, Standard hardly needs a ban enforced, Legacy just had one, Vintage well it's up in the air as far as i am aware, Modern is a whole different story wizards is basically just saying ban 1 card from a good deck now, and those two are the two affore mentioned cards stated above. Let's see the reason why Nacatl is banned first off, so as stated in this article ---> B&R List Explanation nacatl is banned due to the fact it's just a really good creature that blocks and attacks well as well it is a component of Zoo which is pretty dominant so banning this card actually gives Zoo a lot less options in terms of anything, i don't see why this should have been banned honestly but it's Wizard's call on this one.

Punishing Fire however i understand got banned for a specific reason since it was part of a combo with Grove of the Burnwillows but this combination of cards as stated is a "Very slow and reliable win condition" as well as being "Devastating to creature decks that rely on 2 toughness creatures". In all honesty this should have been banned prior to this announcement, here's when this changes kick in for tournament magic.

Announcement Date: December 20th, 2011
Effective Date: January 1st, 2012
Magic Online Effective Date: December 21st, 2011

So for you magic online players this is your last chance to play those cards in modern, before you see the ban hammer for them, for the full statistics go to the following link --> B&R List Announcement

But for now this is vergil saying, adios for 2011 in terms of magic updates, see you at the year end wrap up on December 31st 2011 and remember have fun playing magic it's only a game, this is vergil signing off.