Sunday, July 1, 2018

M19: bombs

Bombs:
White: Resplendent Angel, Leonin Warleader; Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants;
Blue: Tezzeret, Artifice Master;
Black: -
Red: -
Green: -
Multi: Nicol Bolas, the Ravager; Palladia-Mors, the Ruiner; Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire;
Artifact: -

Very good cards:
White: Cleansing Nova; Hieromancer's Cage; Herald of Faith;
Blue: Djinn of Wishes; Mystic Archaeologist; Sleep; Metaporphic Alteration;
Black: Isareth, the Awakener; Murder; Bone Dragon; Demon of Castrophes; Graveyard Marshal;
Red: Banefire; Lathliss, Dragon Queen; Demanding Dragon; Spit Flame; Lightning Strike; Dismissive Pyromancer;
Green: Hungering Hydra; Vivien Reid; Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma; Pelakka Wurm;
Multi: Chromium, the Mutable; Skyrider Patrol;
Artifact: Transmogrifying Wand;

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Arcbound Ravager art sold for 45 200 USD


Some of you may point Black Lotus as the most expensive card, but what if we focus on only Magic art. Did you know, that oryginal art of Arcbound Ravager was sold lately for $45,200? The second highest public auction was half that amount. Ravager topped the most recent public auction of Force of Will by Terese Nielsen from Eternal Masters on eBay, sold for $21,319.99. It was priced so high, because it is the card Affinity is built upon. Only paintings, that are the crux of a deck can rival with Arcbound Ravager. For instance, Mishra's Workshop or Oath of Druid. I'm sure other arts will hit $50,000 or more soon.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Should you play around pump spells in Limited?

Let’s say my opponent attacks a 1/1 into a 2/2 in Limited. Can I play around it? I can just not assing blockers and take 1 damage. But, should I do it? Usually not. If you take a hit now your problem will not vanish - in next turn you probably will have the same dilema. The threat for you, that your opponent is holding a Giant Growth is worth less, than actually casting it and loosing your creature. You need to ask yourself a simple question - is this possible threat going to hurt you more now or later. Force your opponent to cast it in a less profitable scenario for him. In most early-game situations, you want to make them cast it as soon as possible. What it is killing now is less important than what it would kill in the future. Remember, this card is not going away, if it is not used now, it will be casted later.

To sum up, if my opponent attacks their 1/1 into my 2/2, I’ll usually block, because the Giant Growth is going to get roughly average value in this exchange—I can’t stop it from getting the same value later on or potentially more value.

However, if I have an instant-speed removal spell in my hand or a trick of my own, then I might not block because I know the Giant Growth is going to be worth less in the future as I have ways to deal with it.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Mana Fixers in Limited

The newest mana fixer is Navigator's Compass. It gives you 3 life and it may turn your one land into another untill end of turn.
It fixes your mana, but it costs you a card, what in this case is treated as a card disaventage. In other words, it doesn't replace itself or trade with an opposing card, in contrast to a card like Prophetic Prism which replaces itself while fixing your mana and is therefore usually a card you should play. As a general rule, you should not play with Navigator's Compass or other mana fixers that leave you down a card.

An exception to this rule is when you desperately need any mana fixer, because you are playing 3 or more colors. Another example is synergy with the card. For instance, if your deck is both full of “historic matters” cards and deficient in historic cards to turn on all these historic matters cards, then sometimes it's correct to play the Navigator's Compass.

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Deck size in Limited format

As a general rule, you almost always want to play exactly 40 cards in Limited because it maximizes your odds of drawing your best cards, since in Limited your 41st card will be by definition worse than the first 40. Larger decks are less consistent.

The only one exception to this rule that you should be aware of is when playing against an opponent trying to mill you. How to defend against this scenario? Sideboard in every card that is remotely playable in your colors as well as enough basic lands to keep your deck stabile. For instance, if you have six playable cards in your colors in your sideboard, bring them in along with four additional basic lands. So, your starting library will be 50 cards now and it buys you some time to kill the opponent. The reason you don't want to bring in 100 basic lands is because then you will only keep drawing land cards. In spite of playing against mill deck it usually still has some creatures to deal you some incidental damage, so 100 basic are not a good idea. In many cases those just extra few cards in your library will be the difference between a win and a loss. Drawing a weaker card that you boarded in will only rarely cost you a game against a mill strategy. Remember, that your liberary is your main resource here, not life total. However, mill strategies are not popular in Limited.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Battlebond: mechanics

Battlebond is the first-ever Two-Headed Giant-focused Magic booster set. It will be released on June 8. Let's lean on its mechanics


  • Assist lets another player pay the generic mana cost of your spell, this way helping you to cast it. You don't choose the player until after you've revealed the card with assist and made all other required choices, including targets.
  • Partner with [other card]. "When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put [other card] into their hand from their library, then shuffle." Note that not all the partners in Battlebond are legendary. There are eleven of these pairs. Each pair of partners can co-serve as a deck's commander. This is largely the same ability as the original partner, which debuted in Commander (2016 Edition)
  • Support is a returning mechanic from Oath of the Gatewatch.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Brawl

Brawl slowly conquered the players hearts - just as at the beginning of Tiny Leaders format did. Very slowly. Almost it would end up like Tiny Leaders - the format would exist, but be played only by the greatest enthusiasts. However, Wizards listened to the voices of public opinion, made a survey and took action. What is important, Wizards declared support for the format and introduced a number of changes:

  • Baral, Chief of Compliance; Sorcerous Spyglass; and Smuggler's Copter make up the entirety of the Brawl banned list.
  • That means Aetherworks Marvel, Attune with Aether, Felidar Guardian, Rampaging Ferocidon, Ramunap Ruins, and Rogue Refiner are all unbanned.
  • The starting life total for one-on-one Brawl games is now 20. (Multiplayer is still 30)
  • You can now use multiple copies of any one basic land in decks with a colorless commander (such as Karn, Scion of Urza).

Sunday, May 13, 2018

History of Mulligans

A brief history of mulligan.


When the game was released and the first set Alpha saw the light of day.

“No land Mulligan”: At the beginning of the game, if your starting hand doesn't contain any land card, you may reveal it to your opponent, shuffle your cards in your library and draw another hand of seven cards.”

“All land Mulligan”: At the beginning of the game, if your starting hand contains seven lands, you may reveal it your opponent, shuffle your cards in your library and draw another hand of seven cards.“

You may only use a Mulligan once a game.

First change. Pro Tour Paris April 1994. (“Paris Mulligan”)

You would no longer need to show you hand to your opponent to draw another opening hand, you just had to shuffle your hand into your library to draw another one with one less card.

Second change. Pro Tour Vancouver 2011
A player gets now additonally Scry once after taking a mulligan.

Monday, May 7, 2018

Yield Until Next End Step

Some small changes to yield technology were introduced in the Dominaria build of Magic Online. Few words about them:

The old “yield through this turn” option still exists, which is the same as hitting 6 on your keyboard: it will ignore the stops you have set until the next turn begins.  However, a new functionality was released lately - “Yield Until Next End Step”. The game will ignore your stop settings and give you priority during the next End of Turn step, even if you haven’t set a stop there. This is going to be pretty popular, I suspect, given the utility of doing things in the opponent’s EOT step. What is more, you can set such a yield in any phase. You will see the phase ladder put in a yellow arrow. That yellow arrow indicates that you have a “yield until here” sett and all of your other stops are ignored.

This will hopefully prevent people from manually passing for most of a turn because they want to do something in a specific phase, only to accidentally pass priority through that phase. At least once it happened to each of us. It is a very good change.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Modern after Dominaria

In short: Dominaria has a little impact on Modern format.

A bit longer:

Damping Sphere
This uncommon card has the highest potential to find home in sideboard of Modern decks, thanks to its cheap cost and effectivnes against Storm, KCI or Ad Nauseam. Damping Sphere also has added utility against Tron.

Karn, Scion of Urza
A colourless draw engine and token generator certainly provides an exciting package. High starting loyalty. is nice addition too. But still it costs four mana. It is a lot in Modern format. Especially, unban of Jace proved it.

Goblin Warchief + Skirk Prospector
Come back of Goblins? The reprint of Goblin Warchief and Skirk Prospector bring they in Modern format. I think Goblin Chieftain is a better card most of the time.

Cast Down
Next removal, worse than Fatal Push, but better than Go for the Throat, which seems less play lately.

Naban, Dean of Iteration
Only one deck has enough Wizards to play Naban. I'm speaking of Merfolk deck. Merfolk Wizard is Silvergill Adept, Harbinger of the Tides and Master of Waves.

Mox Amber
To make full use of Mox you need to cast it your first turn and be able to tap it. Cheap one mana legends, such as Isamaru, Hound of Konda and Kytheon, Hero of Akros enable it. Both cards are white. I can't think of other playable one mana legends. At this moment Mox will not see any play, but this card someday may become a Modern staple.

Sunday, April 22, 2018

How to draft Dominaria?

This time I divided cards from new set into three categories. First one is dedicated for absolute bombs. Second group are very good cards, you won't find here medium cards, only cards you always want to include to your deck. Third category are the best commons available in every color

1st pick: (Bombs)
artifact: Karn, Scion of Urza, Icy Manipulator
whiteLyra Dawnbringer, Shalai, Voice of Plenty
blue: In Bolas’s Clutches
red: Siege-Gang Commander, Verix Bladewing
black: -
green: Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar
multi: Aryel, Knight of Windgrace, Darigaaz Reincarnated

2nd picks: (Very good cards)
artifact: Helm of the Host, Traxos, Scourge of the Kroog, Weatherlight
whiteHistory of Benalia, Serra Angel
blue: Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp
red: Fight with Fire, Wizard’s Lightning.
black: Cast Down, Demonlord Belzenlok, Josu Vess, Lich Knight, Phyrexian Scriptures
green: Steel Leaf Champion, Territorial Allosaurus
multi: Grand Warlord Radha, Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

The best commons:
whiteGideon’s Reproach, Sergeant-at-Arms, Call the Cavalry, Blessed Light, Pegasus Courser
blueCloudreader Sphinx, Academy Journeymage, Deep Freeze, Academy Drake, Blink of an Eye
red: Ghitu Chronicler, Rampaging Cyclops, Fiery Intervention, Keldon Raider, Shivan Fire
blackVicious Offering, Eviscerate, Stronghold Confessor, Fungal Infection, Deathbloom Thallid
greenLlanowar Elves, Yavimaya Sapherd, Saproling Migration, Ancient Animus, Baloth Gorger

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Dominaria: mechanics


Dominaria mechanics:
  • Sagas - is a new enchantment type. As saga enters the battlefield and as your first main phase begins add lore counter and do corresponding effect. Sacriface it when you collect three counters. Adding a lore counter doesn't use the stack. If you find a way to remove a lore counter from a Saga, that doesn't cause any of its abilities to trigger. It triggers only when you put a counter. In this case, you will get the same effect for a second time when you will put a lore counter in your next first main phase. On the other hand, if you put simultaneously two counters, you get two effects.
  • Legendary Sorcery - you may cast this spell only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker. There are no other restrictions on legendary sorceries, so you can cast more than one with the same name in a turn.
  • Hexproof from ... - for instance hexproof from black means that this creature can't be the target of any black spells or black abilites an opponent controls.
  • Kicker - allows a player to pay an extra cost for a bonus effect. Kicker costs can be paid a maximum of one time
  • Historic - sagas, artifacts and legendaries are historic. For instance, when you cast a historic spell you get a bonus effect. 

Legendary cards will have a new frame. Take a look at Urza's Ruinous Blast.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

New online format: Brawl

Wizards introduced a new online format - Brawl. Brawl is very similar to Commander, with the following exceptions:

  • Players start at 30 life, not 40
  • Decks consist of 60 cards, not 100
  • Planeswalkers can be commanders
  • Only Standard-legal cards can be used; consequently, Brawl uses the Standard banned and restricted list rather than Commander's
  • Commander damage rules (from commander) do not apply.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Happy Easter / Holiday!


I love Easter. It’s a time for eating all the chocolate you can find with complete impunity! 
Happy Easter to everyone!

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Heroes of Dominaria board game

In Magic: The Gathering: Heroes of Dominaria Board Game, players take on the role of a powerful Hero as they travel to the lands of Dominaria. As the player explores the ancient lands, they will need to build sites to increase your bond with a location, discover lost powerful artefacts, create leylines to draw even more mana from distant lands and confront the sinister Cabal in order to gain the resources needed to save the multiverse before rival Heroes do.

The game will be Euro-themed in terms of its mechanics and play with between two and four players. The real heart of the game lies in the strategic decisions you make, removed from luck based mechanics, that will help you summon heroes to your side, draw on powerful magical artefacts and more.

The game content:

  • Game board 
  • 4 Character boards (containing 80% of the rules) 
  • Quest cards 
  • Leylines 
  • Manaliths 
  • Heroes 
  • Artifacts 
  • Cabal Spell cards 
  • Multiple playing pieces to keep score 
  • Pawns

Heroes Of Dominara will be presented in both Standard and Premium with the Premium box coming with four pre-painted miniatures representing iconic Magic The Gathering heroes. The game will be released later this year.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Dominaria release notes leaks

A massive leak about of incoming set took place. It had already spread through the MTG community like wildfire, so Wizards couldn't have done anything but confirm the leak.

Though no actual card images will be released until the official spoiler season begins, the Release Notes contain text from over 100 new and returning cards, including Icy Manipulator, Verdant Force, Siege-Gang Commander, Goblin Warchief, Llanowar Elves and cycle of enemy-color dual lands

What also went public?


  • Every Dominaria booster pack will contain at least one legendary creature. They will be accommodated by a special slot in each pack, similar to the way double-faced cards appeared in every pack of Shadows Over Innistrad. 
  • Dominaria debuts legendary sorcery cards These powerful spells can be unleashed only with the assistance of a legendary creature or planeswalker on your side of the battlefield. Remember, all planeswalker received errata to be legendary with the release of Ixalan.
  • The Dominaria set introduces a new subtype of enchantment: Sagas. When they enter the battlefield and each turn thereafter, players add Lore counters to their Sagas, then activate abilities based on the number of counters on the Saga.
  • Returning Keyword: Kicker
  • Rules Change: damage can't be redirected to Planeswalkers. Previously, you could redirect noncombat damage that a source you control would deal to an opponent, having that source instead deal that damage to one of their planeswalkers. With the release of the Dominaria set, this rule is being removed from the game. 

The Dominaria set becomes legal for sanctioned Constructed play on its official release date: Friday, April 27, 2018.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Beta and Unlimited drafts

The 25th Birthday of Magic is a fact and Wizards are pampering us this time with Beta and Unlimited Rochester Drafts at several major events this summer.

Grand Prix Las Vegas: June 14–17
Grand Prix Singapore: June 22–24
Grand Prix Barcelona: June 29–July 1
Grand Prix São Paulo: July 6–8
Grand Prix Chiba: July 20–22
Gen Con (Indianapolis, Indiana): August 2–5

Grand Prix Vegas and Gen Con will feature Beta Rochester drafts, the other events will feature Unlimited Rochester drafts.

Rochester Draft is a bit old school. Player opens one booster at a time instead of every player opening his or her own pack. The fifteen cards are laid out on the table and players are given about twenty seconds to review their choices. After that, players take turns picking one card at a time to build their decks. The greatest difference between Booster draft and Rochester formats is the amount of information available to the player. Everyone sees everyone's picks

Wizards will be providing cake at these events. No word yet about any digital cake for us online players.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Challenger decks

Wizards revealed a new product intended to help new players get into Standard. We are speaking of 2018 Challenger decks. (click here to check decklists). A reasonable or even bargain price of $30 should convince players to pick it up and play at a Friday Night Magic level. Just two cards from Hazoret Aggro deck Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Hazoret the Fervent are priced together around $50 and we are still getting 58 more playable cards. While the Event Decks of the past have had a long history of not being good enough to fight off top-tier competitive Standard lists, these lists look like they are only a few cards away from being on par with the best decks. This time around, the decks are close replicas of Tier One archetypes and include a lot more rares and Mythics. For instance, Vehicle Rush deck has 26 rares and 5 Mythics maindeck. It is nothing like the entry-level “tournament” decks Wizards has released in the past, which used to have few Mtythics and rares and rest was filled out with garbage. Those decks were unplayable. This time is totally different.

On the flip side, almost every card in each of these decks is from Kaladesh or Amonkhet block, both of which rotate in the fall. A solid product for few months only, but we should get a new Challenger decks then.

These decks are being released on April 6th

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Few Wizards announcements

Lately, Wizards made some announcements. Here is brief summary:

  • in 2018, Magic: The Gathering will launch the official smartphone app, which will allow you to keep track of life totals, to look up card information on the fly including searchable rules databases for card rulings and few other functiones.
  • Signature Spellbook is a spiritual successor to the From the Vault series, but with a signature twist: each Signature Spellbook is themed around a Planeswalker and the spells that define who they are. First one is about Jace. Each Signature Spellbook will contain one premium foil and eight cards that fit with the Planeswalker's identity.
  • Commander Anthology Volume II releases June 8. Four 100-card decks with thirteen premium foil commanders.
  • Commander (2018 Edition) releases August 10. Four 100-card decks with twelve premium foil commanders.
  • Chinese-market-specific Planeswalker Decks featuring new Planeswalkers created particularly for China. We will get a similar English version of the same product created for international audiences. Release on June 22.
  • Battlebond is a completely new set focused on Two-Headed Giant Limited play, releasing June 8. It's a mix of reprint cards and new cards. There are 254 unique cards in total and 85 of those cards are totally new, all of which will immediately be legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage. 

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Jace, the Mind Scultptor unban

Modern format has very diversified meta. To support my claim you should know, that Pro Tour, which took place two weeks ago, had 64 different archetypes! There is no deck, which is clearly better than others and it has siginificant percentage of the meta. In spite of that Wizards decided to unban Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf. Here is summary of what is motivating the change:


  • Modern's return to the Pro Tour, shining a spotlight on the format, makes this a great time to revisit past decisions and see if they still make sense in the current era. 
  • The data we gathered both from the Pro Tour itself and from the several weeks of Magic Online play as pro players tested for the event have helped us cross-check our decisions against what's doing well in the real world. 
  • Compared to other B&R windows, this one has the maximum amount of time before another Modern Pro Tour. This will allow the format to breathe and evolve without immediately undergoing the pressures of the world's top competition. 
  • The reprint of Jace in Masters 25 will provide greater availability for our player base.


Over time, competitive Modern has evolved to be a format of fast, proactive threats. The bar for tapping four lands during one's main phase to cast a single spell is quite high, often restricted to cards that threaten to win the game immediately. In my opinion it is good decision, which will not ruin the format. Do you remember what Bitterblossom and Ancestral Visions unbannings did to the format? Literally nothing.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Game loss / warning

Four most common mistakes resulting in game loss / warning and how to avoid them:

1. Deck error.
This is when there is a discrepancy between the deck you present to your opponent and the deck you registered. Commonly, this will be due to a missing or additional card. For example, when you forget to de-sideboard after the previous round or when you "stole" or "lost" a card by for instance Oblivion Ring effect cards. To prevent this fix your deck right after the match, don't wait and don’t let anything or anyone distract you

2. Deck registeration error
It happens when you make a mistake with your deck list. It also applies to mistakes made during registering sealed pools. For sealed pools, I find it very useful to sort the cards into colours, then register the pool. I'm using Roman numerals, instead of Arabic numerals. "I" is better than "1", beacuse you can easilly "I" turn into "II" by just adding "I". Changing "1" into "2" is not so simple.
After all, count the number of cards in each color and check if it is correct.

3. Tardiness
This is where you don’t turn up on time for your round. If a player is not in his or her seat 10 minutes into the round, he or she is issued a second game loss. The most popular reasons include smoking, going for food or to the toilet. If you are a smoker, go for a smoke in the same place the other smokers do, because you will see them going back and not lose track of time. For food the best thing to do is simply bring some food with you to the tournament. If you need the toilet for longer amount of time tell it a judge and you will unlikely get a game loss. Instead, you may get a time extension.

4. Missed triggers
If you are on five life and you miss the trigger on your Dark Confidant you are likely to get a warning. For this reason many players will put a die on their library so that they don’t just draw a card and forget a card that triggers in their upkeep. But still you must remember to put the die back.
Other solution may be to learn a habit to scan left to right with your eyes for the triggers.


Sunday, February 4, 2018

Arena's Economy

So far, Wizards have stated that there will be no trading in MTG Arena. Now, Wizards are revealing how Magic the Gathering Arena economy will work. It is still a beta, so it may change in details throughout testing, but the general concept should stay the same.

So, how could we get cards if the trading is disabled?

  • in eight-card booster packs (5 commons, 2 uncommons, and 1 rare or mythic rare)
  • draft packs (14 cards, land has been removed)
  • individual card rewards: a system where where for every match win, players will receive one card in MTG Arena, up to 30 per day.
  • Vault. When you would collect a fifth copy (or more) of a card, you earn vault progress instead of adding that card to your collection. Once you have earned enough vault progress, you can open the vault and get something of value. At present, opening the vault gives you eight wildcards: 4 common, 2 uncommon, 1 rare and one mythic
  • Wildcards are special cards that have a chance to appear in the place of each card at any rarity in every booster you open. You can redeem a Wildcard one-to-one for a card at that same rarity. For instance, a rare wildcard can become any available rare.

There will be two in-game currencies:

  • Gold: This currency is earned in MTG Arena by winning games, completing quests and wins in events. 
  • Gems: These can only be purchased for real money from the in-game store. So, if you want to speed up gameplay and bypass dull collecting gold you buy gems. Recently, it is very popular business model of game companies.
It looks promising.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Masters sets

In the beginning, we had Modern Masters. The idea behind Masters was to reprint some Modern  format iconic staples, which would not appear in any Standard set. Over time, we had three Modern Masters and Wizards realized,  that they have to be very careful about how quickly they reprint cards, because otherwise doing more Modern Masters becomes hard. We, players, must admit that Masters sets are well-developed and give a lot of fun to draft. It was one of the factors why Modern Masters sets and Eternal Masters were financial successes.

Senior Magic Designer Gavin Verhey revealed last week that future Masters sets will be based around specific themes rather than formats. Limiting Masters sets to only reprinting cards from a single format was unnecessarily constraining Wizards ability to reprint cards. Modern, Legacy, and Vintage players all need reprints, and switching to thematic Masters sets will allow Wizards to reprint a much broader range of cards every year.

Iconic Masters was the first of these. Masters 25, coming out in March, is the next thematic set. We will be celebrating the Magic's 25th anniversary. A set with cards from magic's entire history.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Standard after bans

Ramunap Red and Energy decks dominated Standard format. Temur was considered as the best deck, while Ramunap Red as a second, so for a big tournament there was very little room for brewing. No diversity and Wizards took action. Banning two of the most important cards in the blue-green-based energy decks Rogue Refiner and Attune with Aether completely killed Temur and Sultai Energy. It led to ban of Ramunap Ruins and Rampaging Ferocidon. Otherwise, red deck would overwhelm the metagame. There were other cards that could have been banned, but Wizards choice is reasonable. Ramunap Ruins was a fuel to late games, while Rampaging Ferocidon was good card against Temur Energy deck. If Energy is gone, Rampaging Ferocidon is safe ban too. It doesn't hurt other decks much and it weakens old reck deck. Wizards may be also anticipating Rampaging Ferocidon being very powerful against decks that will emerge after the dust settles from the banning, such as tokens or vampire decks.

The question is what decks will be tier1 now. Standard is once again wide open, there is no clear answer. Well-known decks such as White-Blue Approach, and White-Blue Cycling can shine now. But, we need to wait for big tournament to see the true winners of latest bans. Will it be Mardu Vehicles, some kind of control, Black-Red with Chandra and Hazoret, Vampires? Who knows maybe Black-Green Constricor comeback?

Sunday, January 14, 2018

How to draft Rivals of Ixalan?

I'm going to present you the list of cards, starting from the best pick during the draft and ending on the least desirable card. For instance, if you don't have any card from "2nd pick" card pool you look for cards in "3rd pick". Cards not mentioned below shouldn't appear in your deck. Notwithstanding, cards like vanilla creature 2/2 for 2 mana are as well essential in your deck in order to be able to stop early threats of your opponent.

1st pick:
whiteBishop of Binding, Trapjaw Tyrant
blue: -
blackRavenous Chupacabra, Tetzimoc, Primal Death
redRekindling Phoenix, 
green: -
coloress: -
multi: -

2nd pick:
white: -
blue: -
blackChampion of Dusk, Dire Fleet Poisoner, 
redEtali, Primal Storm, 
greenGhalta, Primal Hunger, Tendershoot Dryad,
coloressThe Immortal Sun
multiAzor, the Lawbringer, Elenda, the Dusk Rose, Profane Procession

3rd pick:
whiteBaffling End, Everdawn Champion, Exultant Skymarcher, Famished Paladin, Forerunner of the Legion, Imperial Ceratops, Legion Conquistador, Luminous Bonds, Martyr of Dusk, Paladin of Atonement, Radiant Destiny, Raptor Companion, Skymarcher Aspirant, Slaughter the Strong, Temple Altisaur, Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
blueCrashing Tide, Curious Obsession, Deadeye Rig-Hauler, Kitesail Corsair, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Riverwise Augur, Seafloor Oracle, Silvergill Adept, Siren Reaver, Warkite Marauder, Waterknot.
blackDusk Legion Zealot, Fathom Fleet Boarder, Forerunner of the Coalition, Golden Demise, Impale, Moment of Craving, Oathsworn Vampire, Reaver Ambush, Sadistic Skymarcher, Tomb Robber, Twilight Prophet, Voracious Vampire.
redBombard, Dire Fleet Daredevil, Fanatical Firebrand, Forerunner of the Empire, Form of the Dinosaur, Goblin Trailblazer, Mutiny, Needletooth Raptor, Swaggering Corsair, 
greenCacophodon, Crested Herdcaller, Deeproot Elite, Forerunner of the Heralds, Hardy Veteran, Hunt the Weak, Jadelight Ranger, Jungleborn Pioneer, Path of Discovery, Swift Warden, Thrashing Brontodon, 
coloressCaptain’s Hook, Traveler’s Amulet
multiAngrath, the Flame-Chained, Atzocan Seer, Deadeye Brawler, Dire Fleet Neckbreaker, Huatli, Radiant Champion, Jungle Creeper, Kumena, Tyrant of Orozca, Legion Lieutenant, Merfolk Mistbinder, Protean Raider, Raging Regisaur, Relentless Raptor, Storm Fleet Sprinter, Hadana’s Climb.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Rivals of Ixalan: mechanics

Prerelease of Rivals of Ixalan starts on January, 13. This time there are few returning mechanics, such as: enrage, explore, raid, transform and double-faced cards. We will get only one totally new mechanic:

  • Ascend - if you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game. The city's blessing isn't a permanent or emblem, and nothing can destroy it or otherwise interact with it. When you have the city's blessing, you gain a significant advantage depending on the spell you played. Both permanents and spells can have ascend. If a spell has ascend, you get the city's blessing as part of the spell's resolution if you control ten or more permanents. If a permanent has ascend, you get the city's blessing immediately once you control ten or more permanents: this is a special action that doesn't use the stack and cannot be responded to. Ascend always looks at the current game state, not the past, and all the time checks how many pernaments you have.