The Magic Gatherer

Wess Stewart

June 18, 2013

I’m glad to see Mutavault getting a reprint, mostly because I traded mine off a while back towards a playset of Force of Will. Sure, it was a great deal, but I was really hoping I could keep Mutavault around.

The recent spoiling of a lot of M14 cards has had some very interesting things. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how they love that Mutavault and Scavenging Ooze are getting reprints…but I haven’t heard anybody mention that Mutavault in draft would be boss when put in a deck with some slivers.

Yes. Slivers. I AM that kind of guy.

Since we’re seeing a few new slivers hitting the next core set, I think my draft strategy is, for the most part, already established. One-sided slivers with Mutavault seems like a really good draft strategy to me.

Thoughts?

Modern Masters Spoiler: Dark Confidant

Wess Stewart

May 20, 2013

I’m pretty sure we all knew that Dark Confidant was probably going to be reprinted in Modern Masters, but here’s a look at it for those that have not heard yet.

Hi, Bob…

…er…I mean…Skrillex…

The new art isn’t bad, it’s just…not the Bob we all know. He’s also a mythic rare now.

M14: Vastwood Hydra

Wess Stewart

May 15, 2013

Oh look, it’s an M14 spoiler!

And it’s another hydra!

It looks like R&D are starting to finally make better hydras. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think that Phytohydra is sick and Khalni Hydra is really cool as a green stompy guy, but this one ranks a bit higher on the I-can-find-a-use-for-this-somewhere scale.

Thoughts on Dragon’s Maze

Wess Stewart

May 1, 2013

Last week was the Dragon’s Maze pre-release weekend. I’m sure a lot of you are looking forward to cracking packs next weekend (if you didn’t take part in any events last weekend).

I’m not honestly that worried about it myself.

Sure, there are lots of cards in the new set that look like a lot of fun (for example, Ral Zarek looks like he could be a blast to drop on an unsuspecting player). Why wouldn’t I be terribly excited?

<i>Because I don’t play Standard.</i>

What I am looking forward to is hopefully a small reprieve on the price of shocklands. If the release of more affects the prices, it should become fairly easy to pick them up.

A while back I traded a bunch of Innistrad lands from some revised/unlimited dual lands. The price for Innistrad lands, such as , Hinterland Harbor is elevated because of it’s use in standard. I had playsets of all of them and the guy wanted them. Trades happened. The dollar amounts were even as far as short term trades.

One thing I have noticed when trading Magic cards is that it’s a good idea to trade newer Standard staples for old things, like Legacy staples. Dollar for dollar, you can get a bunch of good stuff and build long term value.

Second Sunrise Banned in Modern, Trade Secrets Banned in EDH/Commander

Wess Stewart

April 22, 2013

Wizards just updated their banned/restricted list again. This time we’ve got one banning and one card unrestricted.

Banned – Second Sunrise (Modern)

Unrestricted – Regrowth (Vintage)

With the banning of Second Sunrise, Eggs will no longer be a viable deck. It relied on this card to bring back all of the sacrificed cantrips in order to keep going through the deck until a Pyrite Spellbomb is found, then recycled over and over again to kill the opponent. The real upside to this isn’t the end of Eggs, but the shortening of games where Eggs is being played.

EDH/Commander Banned List

There have also been some changes to the EDH/Commander banned list.

Banned – Trade Secrets

Unbanned – Staff of Domination

This frustrates me because I seriously misplayed in my last EDH game by NOT drawing cards from my opponents’ Trade Secrets until I hit Omniscience. Had I done so, it would have been shenanigan city.

The removal of Staff of Domination from the banned list is going to be a mess. Get ready for people to have ALL THE MANA!

Magic Artist Quenton Hoover Died

Wess Stewart

April 22, 2013

From The Examiner:

On Friday April 19, 2013 famed “Magic: The Gathering” artist Quinton Hoover had his life cut short, dying at the age of 49 according to a post on his Facebook wall. Hoover painted several cards from the game’s first set “Alpha” in 1993, and his artwork is featured on over 70 different “Magic: The Gathering” cards including Richard Garfield’s special Proposal.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Quinton Hoover.

What is your favorite Quinton Hoover illustration?

Dragon’s Maze Spoiler: Ral Zarek – Planeswalker

Wess Stewart

April 8, 2013

To be honest, I’ve been scratching my head debating what could possibly be good about Dragon’s Maze. I really haven’t been that excited (except for the prospect of getting cheaper shocklands) since I’m not a huge fan of playing Standard.

And then, there was this guy. Ral Zarek…Izzet planeswalker.

Ral Zarek – Izzet Awesome or What?

So let’s think about this for just a bit.

First, he’s an Izzet planeswalker. Since I’m a big fan of crazy spell shenanigans, I can totally dig that this guild has a dude that actually seems to be pretty good.

Second…did you see those freaking abilities? Let’s break them down a bit.

+1 Tap some stuff of theirs, untap some stuff of yours. Of course, you don’t have to do it this way, but it’s pretty good to be able to manipulate permanents.
-2 Lightning Bolt. Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded is twitching right now.
-7 Okay, before we get into this, I want to make sure that we are clear and in agreement that this is really an ULTIMATE ability. For real. FLIP SOME COINS, TAKE SOME EXTRA TURNS. This is totally insane.

Time to rebuild those legacy decks, folks. At least I plan to come up with a way to run this guy. He just seems good.

Judge Promo: Bribery

Wess Stewart

April 5, 2013

Yet another awesome judge promo has been shared with the world. This time it’s Bribery.

I really want one of these for my EDH deck. I already run Bribery, but it’s the Mercadian Masques version. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I’ve yet to get a foil version, and this one is just awesome.

Commander Banned List Updates

Wess Stewart

April 1, 2013

So it looks like they have updated the banned list for EDH/Commander again.

Say goodbye to your combos!

Since the list is so long, I’m just going to leave this link here…

New Block Announced: Theros

Wess Stewart

March 25, 2013

Wizards has officially announced the new block. It’s called Theros.

Lots of people online are kicking around the idea that this is a Greek mythology based set. Could be, since the code names are Friends, Romans, Countrymen. I can’t wait to see a Theros spoiler, personally.

I don’t know about the Greek thing, but this dude’s outfit could either be inspired by mythology or Liberace. I don’t know. I suppose we shall see…

Also, the following two sets of the block will be called Born of the Gods and Journey Into Nyx. This could get interesting.