M12 Spoilers - Visions from Beyond and the Mill deck of the Future.

I have never been so excited about running mill as I am right now.  The only problem is since M12 is so damn focused on making great cards for mill, many others will be running it as well.  But let's talk abut this incredible new card.  Let's compare it to the card it is made after.  Ancestral Recall.  Of course, this card is less powerful than recall.  But, if you do meet the requirements, which you indeed would in either Dredge in Legacy or Mill in standard or legacy, then you get the power of a draw three for 1 at instant speed!  That's insane!  Brainstorm is considered one of the most powerful cards in Legacy and this card is even more potent! 

What cards do we have at our disposal for the mill deck of the future thus far?  Heres a few:

Jace, Memory Adept

Hedron Crab

Tome Scour

Archive Trap

Tramutize

Visions of Beyond

Jace's Archivist

Jace's Erasure

Belltower Sphinx

Merfolk Mesmerist

Chancellor of the Spires?

Sword of Body and Mind

Keening Stone

Support

Call to Mind

Mana Leak

Spell Pierce

Prateor's Grip

Sadistic Sacrament

Go for the Throat

Deciever Exarch

Seems like a few different routes we could go with this.  Any ideas guys?

Innistrad Spoilers!

Innistrad

Here's a page with just the Innistrad spoilers.  Enjoy.

And a dash of...

Huge Blog!

I got this one in FOUR sections.

- Bitter Turmoil (custom)
- Aftermath (custom)
-M12 spoilers
- Innistrad spoilers!!!!

Bitter Turmoil Updates

So everyone knows about the "lord" cycle in BT I mentioned earlier, right?  And I already spoiled the first lord for you guys.  Don't remember?  Well, here is a refresher:

I also mentioned each of these lords have a "squire" or "assistant", an uncommon card that helps their master make the most of their powerful ablities.  Here is Gruemaw's.

I'll let you guys have a moment to think about that interaction there.  Got it?  Good.

Moving on, I'm going to reveal the lord for...


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wait for it...


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While I will admit that this isnt strictly better than their black counterparts at face value, this is a potent lord just waiting for another card to make it super uber mega broken *hint hint*.

No.  I'm not spoiling it right now.

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Sorry, aint gonna happen.

Anyways, I still could use more playtesters for this set, so message me if you would be interested. 

Aftermath

Yeah, I'm not 100% done with BT, but all the cards are finished and just need more playtesting to fix balancing issues. 

Yeah, I'm nearly halfway done with the set that comes after it, Aftermath.

Some answers for some questions that may come up:

- Purple still exists.  It isnt like it is in BT (nearly 50% of the set). It sees about as much love as artifacts do.  I will still continue to support it, however I think I gave it plenty of horribleness in BT to last it a good while.  Long story short, it's still here, but it's gonna see a lot less cards per set.

- Aftermath is set 3 of 3 in the Weathered Hope Block.  It is a small set (100-125 cards).  Drafts will be AM-BT-WH.

- I am not 100% sure if I plan to make any sets past Aftermath.  I already started working on a few sets but I'm not certain if they will be put into motion.  Just depends on how well this block is recieved.

- Theme.  The set theme is all about cycles.  I.E. Titans, Leylines, etc.  Over 50% of the set is a card that is in a cycle of some sort.  Some cycles include purple and/or artifacts, others just include the 5 main colors.  Most cycles are based on one reprint: here's an example.

- Lightning Bolt

- Shinebolt

- Darkbolt

- Mistbolt

- Earthbolt

- Lapsing Bolt

And here is the first official spoiler for Aftermath!

M12 Updates

So M12 just had a few more cards spoiled, and I want to touch base on two of them that caught my attention.

Now Angelic Destiny seems like a strictly better Armored Ascension.  I'm not sure how much the angel 'bonus' will help, but I wont discount it.  Innistrad seems like it will be a killer set and it might decide to make use of it.  Either way this card is sick but if you have a token generator (Maybe even Awakening Zone will break this?  Elspeth also comes to mind.) this becomes broken.

Jace 3.0 is underwhelming, but at least he confirms that mill will enter standard once again.  I like the card advantage of his +1 and he seems like he could mill someone fast on his own.

Innistrad

And last but not least, I believe I have some Innistrad spoilers for you guys.  Here are SIX spoilers for you guys.  Enjoy.

 ~FIN~

BANNED - The face of "new" standard

I woke up this morning to some interesting news to all of you magic players getting fed up playing against and probably losing against Caw-blade time and time again:

June 20, 2011

Standard Banlist Updates

- Jace the Mind Sculptor is banned from standard.
- Stoneforge Mystic is banned from standard.

So, if you are on the heroic side and play rouge decks, this is your time to celebrate!  Now if you played the villian and had an all foil Caw-Blade deck, prepare to lose a ton of money.

Not only will the prices on Jace and Stoneforge halve, but you'll also see a huge drop in the other big cards in the deck.  Let's look into the future, shall we?

- Jace the Mind Sculptor

: Banned in standard, still a big card in legacy (and extended, but extended is the crap format right now) so he will retain some value.  how much?  I would bank on $35-$50 bucks.  A lot of people want to sell their Jaces right now so the market will be flooded with them, dropping it lower than that, but after the legacy players soak them up, they will again become a chase card and keep some value.

- Stoneforge Mystic:

 Also Banned in standard, this card does see some play in legacy and its pretty good there.  It's value depends on what gets printed in the future.  Wizards has more room now to create broken equipment for standard now that stoneforge is banned.  Which could trickle down to legacy.  Or it could just stay this way and we still have a lot of nice stuff to use with it (Batterskull, Sword of Fire and Ice, etc)  In any case, I'd like to say it will still have to drop to being a $5-$10 buck card.

- Batterskull:

  Well the time has come that we can start testing Batterskull for the card it is at face value, instead of being a stoneforge trick.  How good is it?  Well, when I reviewed it for my New Phyrexia price guide, I didnt really think much about it with stoneforge since it was going to rotate anyways.  I usually just value the card for what it is.  So heres what I wrote back in early May about it:

"Ok, so its spoiled right, and worth $5 on Starcitygames.com - so Patrick Chaplin posts hows its so bonkers and within 24 hours it shoots up to $25 bucks. Yes, I think the price is artifically inflated. Yes, I think its a great card. Ok, so its 5 mana for a 4/4 lifelink vigilance. Thats awesome right there. But wait, if it dies, I can give make my Gatekeeper here a 6/6 lifelink vigilance for 5 mana? Sweet! Oh, it gets better? At the end of my opponents turn, if I'm out of creatures, I just tap 3 mana, untap for turn, then pay 5 again and get my creature back? Does anyone remember Eternal Dragon? It was 7 mana for a 5/5 flying, but it kept coming back! A must have for control decks imo.

Value: $10-$20
Cap: $25"


Sword of War and Peace/Feast and Famine:

So, these cards arent too good now, but they might see fringe play in sideboards.  I dont like running dups in a deck since they dont give enough value when you have most than one on the board.  Still, you never know what they will print next, so lets say $7-$12 for these guys.

Squadron Hawk:

You suck.

Jace Beleren:

A solid card, but you have to think that it will lose some value since half the reason you run him is to thwart 2.0 via the legendary ruling.  And he's up for reprint.  But at the end of the day, I run him just for card advantage.  He's a slow concentrate for a mana less.  Or a howling mine if you want that.  So I have no doubt he will maintain value, so let's peg him at $4-$7.


So enough of CawBlade, its done.  What cards do I see becoming more popular in the near future?  Heres a small list to finish this article with current prices:

- Primeval Titan (25)
- Thrun (7)
- Green Sun (5)
- Phyrexian Obliterator (20)
- Koth of the Hammer (25)
- Deciever Exarch/Splinter Twin (75 cents/8)
- Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (30)
- Valakut (2.50)
- Vengevine (20)
- Gideon Jura (20)
- Wurmcoil Engine (6)

Bitter Turmoil - SPHINX!

So yeah, Sphinx.

Its a tribal creature type within Bitter Turmoil.  Weathered Hope brought us a couple more traditional Sphinx creatures, but Bitter Turmoil really pushes the tribe toward seeing some play.  Let's take a look at the older cards from Weathered Hope:

From this, we can tell the following:

- Sphinx creatures are usually blue

- They seem to all have flying

- They all cost 5 or more mana

- They do not get their value in the mana vs power/toughness ratio

- They resist death, and if they are easily killed, they have yet a purpose still.

This is a pretty accurate assessment of Sphinx cards in standard, such as Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Concrecrated Sphinx, etc.  Let see what Bitter Turmoil has in store for us:

The lord Sphinx is very mana efficent when used with morph, it gives your other sphinxs a boost and is a solid body as well.  its true value lies in being able to draw a card when casting Sphinxs (note: they just have to be cast, it doesnt matter if they are countered!)  This allows you to chain draw when you have enough mana.

The smallest Sphinx (so far), it has solid value for the mana cost, plus is a tribal to boot. 

This is part of the 8 mana cost Legendary Cycle, but ignore that for now.  Tremendous Value here, cant be targeted, and its triggered ablity is sickening. 

The first Sphinx that isnt an auto include, its pretty good value and a handy trick for protecting your stuff.

Kinda weird card, but it shouldnt be too hard to make this guy broken.

Favorite new M12 Spoilers

They just announced a slew of new non-rare M12 spoilers, so heres my favorite 6 from those spoiled:

This is an instant Vicious Hunger.  Vicious Hunger never seen a ton of play, but it was used in some mono-black decks against smaller creatures and when they cared about lifegain.  Instant makes this card twice as good, and I have no doubt this will be a premier removal spell used in mono-black, especially since we are going from bolt to shock, which after rotation means this is on the same power level as bolt.  It's good guys.

Are you serious?  A 1/1 shroud is nasty enough (nimble mongoose?) but hexproof means you can overpump him without taking any risks (barring flash creatures like D Exarch).  Will be huge in elves and green beatdown decks.

A lot of removal is rotating out, so this card might make it into standard.  However, the reason i love this card is because it is a bomb in limited.  It also gives a power boost!  Its just a super card at attacking and defending.  It says your creature is unblockable in case you didnt catch that part.  It also chump blocks an infinte amount of times. 

Snakeform was a big deal back in the day, and Turn to Frog, while having a horrid name, pays homage to Snakeform.  Heres the differences:

- Snakeform could be played in blue or green decks, whereas Turn to Frog requires blue.

- Snakeform cantripped (replaces itself with another card, thereby losing no card advantage).  Now this is a problem, seeing how this kind of effect potentially will not gain you card advantage. 

- Turn to Frog costs 1 less mana.  This is good, since we are in a faster metagame and we need to hit this off faster.  However, this does not outweigh the disadvantages.

Can this be played in standard?  Well, how is it going to help us?  Yeah, it is superb vs the likes of Baneslayer Angel and Inferno Titan, but how are decks killing us most of the time?

- Squadron Hawk Equipped with Sword of War and Peace: Bad.  Sure, it loses flying.  But its still a 3/3 that when it connects it swings the game around.

- Batterskull: Horrible.  You'll turn the 0/1 into a 1/1.  Not good at all.

- Deciever Exarch With Splinter Twin: Fair.  You'll buy yourself a turn unless you can follow this up with a shock or something.

A ton of Goblins: Bad.  You might prevent a damage or two, which is not a good application of a card and two mana.

- Wurmcoil Engine/Titans/Obliterator: Fair to Good.  Again, you'll need to follow this up with removal or a block.

Verdict: NO.  However, when the meta changes, this will have a chance to shine.

I like this card.  It doubles as land destruction and a neat little aftereffect that might help you score some damage early or alpha strike for the win later on in the game.

This guy is worth a mention.  For a 2/1 beats his price is fair and later in the game you can pour all your mana into this and top deck a win.  I will probably run these in most of my non-aggresive blue decks to trade early and gain a huge advantage late game.  Also great in limited!