Innistrad Picks Part 1

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Sep 192011
 

With Magic the Gathering’s  Innistrad right around the corner, I have decided to do something I have never done.  I am am going to review a hand full cards from each color.  This will most likely take me 5 days and I will make mistakes.   The only thing left for me to do is select which color is first.  I think I will go Black, Blue, Green, Red, White and anything else.

 

In black I do see some potential for card quality.  My favorite cards in Black are, Blood Gift Demon, Liliana of the Veil, Endless Ranks, Morkhurt Banshee, and Skirsdag Piest.

 

Bloodgift Demon 3bb
Creature – Demon Rare
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, target player draws a card and loses 1 life.
He relishes the devotion of his Skirsdag puppets and their belief that it will earn them immortality.
Illus. Peter Mohrbacher #89/264 5/4

All I have to say is a 5/4 flyer for 5 is good.  In the current environment he is not that good, but keep in mind we will be changing things very soon.  But I doubt he will replace any of the current staples in Standard.

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Innistrad Mechanic Review

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Sep 132011
 

So the next Magic the Gathering expansion is on the horizon.  It will bring with it 5 mechanics.  Some of these mechanics are making a return, like Flashback and Fight (which is a new keyword).  While others are just knew.  But before you go any further I suggest you read Wizards of The Coast article on Innitsrad mechanics here.  Because this article is going to talk about rules in significant detail.

 

Transform

Of the the mechanics being introduced in Innistrad this has to be the most complicated one.

  • It will have a tournament legal proxy.
  • There is no Magic back on the card.
  • The face up side is marked with a sun.
  • The transformations are triggers.
  • Both faces are the same card.  That means counters, tokens etc stay on the card if it transforms.
  • Transforming is different from flipping.
  • Always enters the battlefield face up.
  • Copy effects only copy the current “face” of the card.

What does all of that mean for a player and for the judge?

 

Judge Perspective

While double faced cards are going to bring to the game a potential for new levels of card quality it is going to be a messy mechanic at first.  I suspect that early on players are going to miss the transform triggers left and right.  I can just see it know some random player draft 10 double faced cards and put 7 in his deck.  Can you imagine having 4 of them in play at the same time?  You might have different faces face up.  In other words the players might have four different triggers to remember on top of normal game play.  The good news is that this is most likely to happen at the casual level of play for some time – practice.   In the end I think it will force both players and judges to improve their game.

 

Player Perspective

As a player I am looking forward to the card quality that thes might bring us.  And I do believe there will be enough good double faced cards that a handful of them will see play.  Otherwise, WotC is waisting their time with this mechanic.

 

Morbid

Judge Perspective

There is not a thing that is so unique about this mechanic that we have anything to worry about.

 

Player Perspective

The trigger is going to be easy enough to pull off that you will definitely see it played.   I kind of like Skirsdag High Priest.  I used this  spoiler for information.  I kind of like putting 5/5 flying demons in play.

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Magic the Gathering Mini Master this Weekend

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Sep 082011
 

I just learned that Wizards of the Coast is sponsoring Magic the Gathering Mini Masters events at select stores (Magic Celebration) this Saturday September 10th.  Here are the locations.   What is cool about, I mean what makes it different from other mini masters?  It is free, while supplies last.  That is right free Wizards of the Coast is giving back to their customers.

 

So what is a mini master AKA pack wars?  It is one of the most inexpensive limited formats you can play.  Each player receives one pack (M12 on Saturday) and three of each basic land then they get shuffled together.  That is right you play blind, you don’t look at your cards.  Each event is three or four rounds.  Each round you win earns you another free M12 booster to enhance your deck with.  On top of that WotC is supplying retailers with T-shirts and a code card for Duels of the Planeswalker 2012.   I am not sure how the code is going to be distributed, but it is for the platform of the player’s choice.

 

I will be at Freedom Games in North Canton Ohio on Saturday playing.  If you want to duel me come on down.

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Wizards of the Coast anounces Planeswalker Points

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Sep 062011
 

Wow!  Wizards of the Coast has done it again.  They have changed everything.  For those of you who have not read the article on Planeswalker points yet, you can view it here.  If you are too lazy here is a brief (really brief) overview.

  • Points will have different  categories lifetime, competitive, FNM, and professional.
  • Each has its own function based off variables like number of players.
  • Wins and losses earn you points
  • Points give you invites based on your play.

 

So, the question I have is this “Is this a good change?”  I am going to say yes.   The concept behind the program is to encourage better players to play instead of sitting on their rating.  By doing this players will be playing against better players.  Who want to play better players.  The concept is the better players will kind of mentor the rookies.   In the end it will sell more Magic the Gathering and increase the pool of players.  Especially if Wizards of the Coast continues supporting events like Grand Prix’s.

 

I am looking forward to the new systemIt has a better balance than the current rating system because it really has something for everyone.

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