Zendikar Orb of Insight

Zendikar Orb of Insight is online. Click here.

Zendikar Visual Spoiler

Here are few Zendikar cards. I'll post more visual spoilers these days.

Kaitas, Bloodchief of Ghet

Sorin Markov

Day of Judgement

Lullmage Mentor

Warren Instigator

My favorite from here are Zendikar's Wrath of God and the new Plainswalker.

Zendikar Lands

Here are the Zendikar land cards. I love them, they look awesome. We will get them in boosters. Amazing lands, like the ones in Unhinged. Check out this MASSIVE post below. Scroll down! :)

Magic 2010 Goblins

Goblins are back with a vengeance. I might be playing Goblins again, I like what I see here. Combined with other stuff that kills, I might be getting a winning combination. Check them out.

Magic 2010: What do you think?

Well, well, well... What do you think of Magic 2010? You probably read about the changes in the rules. Personally, I don't think it was THAT necessary. Terminology changes are okay, but I'm sure that the rule changes would be harder to adapt... The prerelease and release events are re-scheduled in my country so I'm about the check out Magic 2010 this weekend.

Magic 2010 Core Set spoilers

Hello! Long time no see! But now it's time for new Magic 2010 spoilers, some of them published today on MTG Salvation's site. Be sure to check them out. Also, check out a tiny visual spoiler.

Half of the cards will be reprints, and half of them completely new. There will be 249 cards in total. The Magic 2010 core gonna hit the stores on July 17 this summer.

Full Alara Reborn Spoiler

There's full Alara Reborn spoiler on MTG Salvation, all 145 cards are listed. Check them out and get ready for the pre-release event on April 25th and 26th.

Alara Reborn Visual Spoiler #1

Few complete cards were added on the official Wizard's site. Here's some of them. Click here for the rest.

Alara Reborn mini-site

Alara Reborn's mini-site on Wizard's official site is up. There are few spoiler cards, product information, puzzles, etc... I like this dark red color of the packing. It looks nice and reminds me of Kamigawa. (I think it was Betrayers)

Alara Reborn represents the culmination of schemes set in motion by the planeswalker Nicol Bolas. As the five shards smash together, untold power is unleashed in the chaos.

The Alara Reborn set represents a first for Magic: 100% of the set is multicolored – solid gold. Check back to magicthegathering.com for official previews starting April 13th!

Alara Reborn: Orb of Insight

Alara Reborn Orb of Insight is up. Click on the image to peek.

Alara Reborn spoiler: Terminate

Alara Reborn card, and it's in my favorite colors. BR instant which destroys target creature that can't be regenerated. Nice. I already found it's place in one of my decks I never built.

Check it out.

New set for October 2009: Zendikar

Wizards announced that the new set codenamed "Live" is named Zendikar. A little is known so far, only basic info. Check it out.
Set Name Zendikar
Three-Letter Abbreviation ZEN
Number of Cards 249
Release Date Friday, October 2, 2009
Prerelease Events September 26-27, 2009
Launch Parties October 2-4, 2009
Previews start on magicthegathering.com September 7, 2009
Design Team
Mark Rosewater (lead)
Doug Beyer
Graeme Hopkins
Kenneth Nagle
Matt Place
Development Team Henry Stern (lead)
Aaron Forsythe
Mark Globus
Erik Lauer
Devin Low
Matt Place
Mike Turian
Steve Warner

Alara Reborn spoiler: preview card

As you all probably know, Alara Reborn is the final set from the Shards of Alara block, that comes out on April 30 this year.

One card was released today on Wizards' site. Check it out. No text, only the card type and the awesome art, and of course the card name - Ardent Plea.

Magic 2010 Partial Spoiler

A little is known about the upcoming Magic: The Gathering Core Set, Magic 2010. Here are few cards published in the Wizard's official article.

Plus, there is word on the new lands in Magic 2010, here's what Aaron Forsythe wrote: "There has been some speculation as to which set of existing dual lands will be in the next core set, and the answer may surprise: none of them. We wanted to make a cycle of powerful dual lands that risk-averse newer players would like, which meant coming up with something that didn't involve losing life. Sorry, painlands, fetchlands, and Ravnica duals. Trust me, the new ones are awesome!"

Magic 2010

Finally, some news on the next Core Set that comes out this summer. How many of you expected 11th Edition? Wrong. The new Core Set will be called Magic 2010, as this article on the WotC site is saying. Wonder how they came up with that idea?

One realization we came to as we examined our core sets was that our naming convention itself was probably more than a little scary to newer players. "Tenth Edition? I'm already nine editions behind? Do I need to start with the first edition?" Showing our age on the front of the box is not a great tactic for enticing people to try out a "new" game. To solve this problem, we took a page from car makers and the aforementioned Madden NFL video game franchise and are naming core sets after years—specifically the year after the product is released. That means this July's release will be called the Magic: The Gathering 2010 Core Set, or Magic 2010 for short. Heck, you can go even shorter than that if you like, calling it by what appears in the expansion symbol: "M10."

So, we'll have a new Core Set every summer. Also, there will be 50% reprints (Lorwyn Plainswalkers will be back as Mythic rares) and 50% new cards. It's sounds interesting. We'll see how would it turn out.

And, you wonder how this will rotate in and out?

To accommodate this much more rapid core set turnover, we are changing our format rotation policy beginning in the summer of 2010 with the release of the Magic 2011 core set. Magic 2011 will not knock Magic 2010 out of Standard; instead there will be only one rotation date per year, when the large Fall set is released. When the set codenamed "Lights" is released late in 2010, it will knock the Shards of Alara block and Magic 2010 out of Standard at the same time. Core sets will rotate as if they were part of the block preceding them. For approximately three months per year starting in 2010, there will be two core sets legal at a time, which is also a first.

Note that when Magic 2010 is released this summer, Tenth Edition will rotate out as per our normal existing policy.

16 damage Naya combo

Probably the best Naya combo that can be arranged in early game, even in the fourth turn.

Turn 1: Forest + Wild Nacatl
Turn 2: Mountain + Mogg Fanatic
Turn 3: Plains + Woolly Thoctar
Turn 4: Forest + Attack with Woolly Thoctar + Giant Growth + Soul's fire.

Building a Naya budget deck, Part I

I decided to give Naya a try and build a deck based on the shard. I won't be spending much money on it because I have other cards to trade. I had most of the cards, bought few commons and here we are.

I've just started, so I'll need to find few more fatty creatures for an unpleasant beating of the opponent. I think there are enough mana fixers, removals but the deck lacks the giant beasts. Of course, filter lands could fit too, but they're not what I call "budget deck" cards.

Here we go.

NAYA BUDGET DECKLIST

CREATURES:
3 x Mogg Fanatic
2 x Druid of the Anima
2 x Steward of Valeron
4 x Wild Nacatl
4 x Woolly Thoctar

SPELLS:
4 x Incinerate
4 x Soul's Fire
4 x Oblivion Ring
4 x Giant Growth
2 x Fertile Ground
1 x Titanic Ultimatum

PLAINSWALKERS:
3 x Ajani Vengeant

LANDS:
2 x Jungle Shrine
2 x Naya Panorama
7 x Forest
7 x Mountain
5 x Plains

That would be it. I'll make some changes as soon as possible, like kicking out the Fertile Ground and Naya Panorama for something better, like huge beasts or Naya Charm, because I have (more than) enough mana sources. And another thing, I must take back my bad words for Shards of Alara. It's a great set, far from worse. I really enjoy playing this kind of deck.

Cool Naya/Bant Combo

How to deal 5 damage on the second turn? Well, mostly it depends on your luck, but let's give it a try?

Turn 1: Plains + Akrasan Squire
Turn 2: Forest

You attack with the first Akrasan Squire and boost it with Resounding Roar. That's 3, plus 2 from the exalted.

Hopefully, you'll get the right cards and the opponent will take the damage.

Conflux aftershock

Well, Conflux is officially out. I played on the pre-release event and I still don't know what I'm gonna do about the release, because I'm a little bit low on cash. I never played worse deck on limited. For the first time, I played Bant, with a awful deck, but that was the maximum I could pull off the cards I got.

For the first time after a long period, I lost all the matches, finishing with a "bye", leaving the event with the release. The only valueble card I got was the Noble Hierarch which I'm gonna trade for Banefire or Voracious Dragon.

Bant is really cool, but it's definetly something I wouldn't play. The exalted abillity is very, very cool but it's just not for me. I like red and burn.

I got few cool Naya cards that can be used for fun Naya budget deck, I'll try to compile a deck list soon and if it turn out to be competitive I might be playing Naya (if it's too hard to find the two damn cards I need).

Rise of Esper?

I have a Esper deck, built on the intro pack Esper Artifice. This Shard is my favorite, interesting to play, but it seems that is far from competitive. It's a bit slow, with creatures which are easy to be killed and it requires a lot of counter strategy that can screw up the tournament play even more.

But, now three cards are changing my plans for investing in this kind of deck. So, I might be buying some new cards after all. Check them out below:

A life gain defender with 6 toughness plus flying? Oh my, this can be awesome.

Just imagine what could you possibly destroy with this on. And if you have enough mana, you can take two big beasts at once.My favorite. You can return anything you want, and put Sharuum The Hegemon into play, and there you are, return another artifact from your graveyard to play. Awesomeness.

The Dragon's Egg - My MTG Dream Bag

Power 9 Pro's new product, designed for passionate collectors and MTG players, the best way to store your card collection and carrying wherever you go. The Dragon's Egg was inspired and designed by a passionate Magic player, James DiPadua. Here's what he said:

The Dragon's Egg was designed because I got sick of using cardboard boxes to carry around my constructed decks. I've had a number of cards get bent, nicked and smudged because the storage and transportation options for my MTG decks were inadequate.

After looking for a solution, I didn't really see anything that excited me. In fact, I remember clearly thinking, "I can make something better than this." And so I did.

I'm so confident that the Dragon's Egg will be a better option for transporting and protecting your Type 1, Type 2, Extended and Block decks than cardboard boxes that I back the Dragon's Egg by a lifetime 100% money back guarantee. You can't even guarantee me that your Tarmagoyf, Mutavault or Figure of Destiny will be worth 100% it's current value next year, so that's a pretty freaking great deal!

I'm really excited to offer a more practical and exciting way for Magic players to enjoy their passion while protecting their investment at the same time. Enjoy!

It's awesome. Click here for more info.

Full Conflux Spoiler

Finally, all 145 cards included in Conflux are known to the public, published on MTG Salvation. I'm thinking about a Voracious Dragon / Banefire deck, but I'm afraid to think about the possible price of each card. I hope I'll get at least one on the pre-release event, because I do not intent to spend much money on this set.

To be honest, I don't think I ever saw a worse set in the last four years. This multicolor bullcrap is terrible and it's about to cool my passion for the game. I don't know about other people, but I don't like this five color mixture at all.

I'll post my ALA/CON deck ideas these days.