Aehter Revolt is coming

It is soon time to take the power back! Spoiler season over the holidays is always kind of weird but it has started and it should be ended around January 12th.

The Prerelease is January 14-15th

Magic Online Prerelease starts Jan 27th.
Magic Online Release Date is Jan 30th.

Pro Tour Aether Revolt takes place Feb 3-5th in Dublin, Ireland.

My Kaladesh prerelase experience

I played the Kaladesh prerelease. Overall I was very impressed by the format. It seemed like tons of fun. I was poorly prepared and it felt almost like back in the day when I had to read all of the cards.

The new league structure is fantastic. No longer did I need to book six consecutive hours to my wife's despair - no, now I could just play the matches at my convenience. Very neat.

This is the pool I was presented with and the deck building decisions I made. What deck would you have built?



Red Green was very strong. In all the matches I played except the last one, a RG deck won the match. Sadly, however, that deck was not always one.

The first match clearly showed me the power of my deck as I crushed my opponent with RG violence.



In the second match I once again applied brute force and beat my UG Energy opponent to a pulp.




So much violence!

After that it did not go too well. You can see the rest of the matches in the playlist provided below:

What does Kaladesh mean for Pauper?

This time, right before the release of another big set, the Interwebs fill up with articles that speak about interesting cards for Pauper, the all-common format, mainly played on Magic Online.

I am here to disappoint you.

Pauper contains commons going all the way back to Magic's creation. That means that a new set of 264 cards is going to make a minimal impact. Still, we sometimes get a gem or two (such as Thermo-Alchemist in Eldritch Moon). Remember - to put some card in your deck from Kaladesh, you have to take out a card that is probably pre-NWO and amazing.

Here are the cards I think have a real possibility of finding a spot in a tier 1-3  deck in Pauper. They are listed in order with the likeliest card at the top.

Gearseeker Serpent: A 5/6 for UU could see play in Affinity. Quicksilver Behemoth has seen play and is just a 4/5 at a similar mana cost. However, two blue colored mana could be too steep. Being 5/6 is so good, though, being able to block Gurmag Angler is worth a lot.

Fragmentize: The ability to disenchant something for 1 mana can not be ignored. This will see sideboard play.

Dramatic Reversal: This has no home in an existing deck but the effect is so powerful that maybe, just maybe, something could be built around this.

Cathartic Reunion: Tormenting Voice saw fringe play in tier 3 decks. This card is clearly more powerful some of the time and it just reeks of combo potential. It will probably just not be as good as the blue alternatives.

Reckless Fireweaver: Its base stats are very weak at 1/3 for R1 but the effect is very powerful. It don't see it finding a spot in Affinity (what do you cut?) but there are some rogue decks that could benefit from this.

Take Down: Stompy and other green decks could use a card like this. The ability to take down a Spire Golem for 1 mana is nothing to sneeze at. However, I believe Scattershot Archer will remain the better choice.

Salivating Gremlins: This card is not good but we know that people will try to break it. It will appear in brews.

Larger than Life: Infect might just want this. Trample is sweet and similar cards have seen play.

Self-Assembler: Getting four 4/4s will be useful for some decks, especially decks that don't have access to green for Auroch's Herd

Dhund Operative: I have seen Suicide Black lists sporting 4 Vault of Whispers and 4 Bonded Constructs in a desperate attempt to make this playable. There might be a better way so I figured the card deserved a mention at least.

I have not mentioned reprints (I am looking at you, Prophetic Prism) that are already established in the format.

This list can become very different if the next set contains any playable Pauper cards that use Energy. If that is the case we have to reconsider cards such as the Puzzleknots but for now they are all useless to us.

Kaladesh limited first impressions

One of my favorit sets to draft (and play Sealed) was Mirrodin. The fact that there were so many artifacts meant there was so much good stuff for every deck. It felt like christmas in every draft. I was on hiatus during Scars of Mirrodin which means that I have been waiting a long time for Kaladesh limited. The fact that draft is now played in league form makes it even more interesting.

Magic Online prereleases being on October 7th. I quit limited early during BFZ. I think this might be the time to get back in.

What to expect of the format

The commons look very strong. Black has a 3/2 deathtouch creature at common! I think we can expect a faster than average format. It will not be Magic Origins or Zendikar fast though.

Because the commons and uncommons look strong I think we can expect a pauper format, i.e. it will a format not dominated by bomb rares. 

A lot of cards generate bonuses for artifacts. Artifacts will be better than usual. 

Play 17 lands. As there are some sinks, I would tend to go 18 more than 16.

2/2s for 2 are probably not good enough even though the format is fast. 

New mechanics and how they will affect the format

Energy - this mechanic is hard to evaluate at this early stage. Will probably help finish games if they go late. It looks like a deep mechanic with lots of play to it. 

Fabricate - full of options. Will make the format more interesting. I will tend to evaluate cards with Fabricate a little higher. 

Vehicles - they look so bad but I expect them to be better than expected and matter. I will be scared of including too many in my deck. Imagine having a vehicle out with no creatures. That is basically the same as taking a mulligan.

Here is an overview of the new mechanics in Kaladesh: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2016/09/kaladesh-mechanics.html

Kaladesh Masterpieces

It seems that the Zendikar expeditions were quite successful so now we are doing it again in Kaladesh.

Kaladesh Masterpieces will be coveted cards such as Sword of Fire and Ice and Mana Crypt. They will be found in new-art, foil-only versions at a rate of roughly 1 out of every 144 boosters. I think that is the same rate as the expeditions. Almost all of the Masterpieces are reprints.

So why does Wizards do this? Three reasons.

#1: Putting part of the box value in these expensive chase cards in order to reduce the cost of Standard (it does make sense if you think hard about it).
#2: Getting old cards out there. A Modern Masters every other year is not enough. Wizards need to reduce the value of your bot collection in several ways and this is one of the better.
#3:  Another way to bling your deck (yeah, that's what they said)

And it seems that Wizards, in fact, have succeeded in achieving these three goals. Zendikar Expeditions were a hit so now we are doing it again. It works.

Here is a full list of the Masterpieces (they are all artifacts naturally):

Aether Vial
Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Champion's Helm
Chromatic Lantern
Chrome Mox
Cloudstone Curio
Combustible Gearhulk
Crucible of Worlds
Gauntlet of Power
Hangarback Walker
Lightning Greaves
Lotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Mind's Eye
Mox Opal
Noxious Gearhulk
Rings of Brighthearth
Scroll Rack
Sculping Steel
Sol Ring
Solemn Simulacrum
Static Orb
Steel Overseer
Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Light and Shadow
Torrential Gearhulk
Verdorous Gearhulk

On another note, the set looks sweet so far. I was not around during Scars of Mirrodin but my experience from Mirrodin tells me that drafting an artifact set is great fun. I might be doing my first limited leagues soon.

Full announcement by Wizards here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/masterpiece-series-2016-09-12

The next block is set on Amonkhet

There was a big announcement recently from Wotc.

The next block after Kaladesh is set on the world of Amonkhet, ruled by Nicol Bolas himself. The name sounds Egyptian to me. I am ready for some sphinxes, pyramids and pharaohs.

The first set of the block is "Rise Among the Worthy". It will be released on April 28, 2017.

The second set of the block is "Hour of Devastation". It will be released on July 14, 2017.

They also announced Modern Masters 2017 for March 17, 2017 featuring cards from sets from 8th Edition (Blood Moon perhaps?) through Magic 2014, probably with a focus on Innistrad and Return to Ravnica blocks.

Read the full announcement here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/announcement-day-2016-08-31