Magic: The Gathering (Unreleased Sets)

Here's my Amonkhet Prerelease deck and pool. My promo was Vizier of Many Faces. My rares were;

• Vizier of Many Faces (Promo)
• Vizier of Many Faces
• Glyph Keeper
• Heart-Piercer Manticore
• Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
• Neheb, the Worthy
• Canyon Slough

Yes, I got a normal Vizier of Many Faces in addition to the promo. I made a blue/black deck with the blue rares. The prerelease went 6 rounds. I won my first match, then lost my next three before winning my Round 5 match. Then my opponent for round 6 decided to drop after the pairings for the round had already been made, leaving my the winner of that round by default and an overall record for the day of 3-3. On the bright side, while my tournament record was mediocre, I did end up winning a From the Vault: Lore as a door prize.

New Story.

Wow. I knew the Trial of Ambition was a shitshow that forced you to murder someone in your crop at some point, but I was not prepared for just how extreme that wound up being.

New Story.

edited 10th May '17 10:24:21 AM by googlebot

My gut tells me that Djeru is probably going to be important during Hour of Devastation. That he doesn't have a card in Amonkhet suggests they're waiting to card him until the second half, and that tells me that he's going to have a larger role there.

...I'm not exactly someone with a strong moral compass, or a sense of empathy. But even I found that scene disgusting - disturbing on a visceral level I did not even know existed. What the fuck, Bontu?

edited 10th May '17 10:33:03 PM by NickTheSwing

And that's just the opening act. Can't wait to see the Trial of Zeal, where the survivors continue murdering each other until only one is left standing, so that one can subsequently be killed by Hazoret.

This card indicates that Gideon is going to intervene in the final ceremony and prevent Hazoret from slaying the champion. Who wants to bet that's going to be Djeru that gets saved?

edited 10th May '17 10:40:54 PM by TobiasDrake

Likewise, I'm betting he's gonna be less than grateful. This is a plane ruled by and for death. Its religious in its nihilism.

And at the rate heresy and heretic are getting used, though...

edited 11th May '17 1:04:38 AM by NickTheSwing

New story.

Gatewatch defeated before Bolas even shows up. And we were shown how Jace can be usful in combat.

edited 17th May '17 1:50:04 PM by googlebot

Nissa better keep working on how to get past that whole "No magic, lol" bit, 'cause Bolas is arriving now.

Also, Hazoret's cryptic warning is super creepy. I thought it seemed odd when Ajani joined the Gatewatch given that we already have a white PW. Now I'm wondering if Gideon's about to bite it.

edited 17th May '17 5:05:04 PM by TobiasDrake

This is unsettlingly ominous. One more story till we see where this is all going.

Part of me thinks he'll be on his way out in a Return to Theros.

Especially as that will give a chance for him to be swap him out for Elspeth.

That'd be cool. Part of me thinks he might be on his way out here. While the Gatewatch will probably throw a wrench in what Bolas has planned for Amonkhet, I don't expect Hour of Devastation to be entirely triumphant. I feel like the name is double-edged; the Hour is referring to the fated Hours, the Devastation is referring to what's going to happen to the Gatewatch.

They're going to take some hits, I think. What that means is anyone's guess, but a character dying is a common go-to for raising stakes and establishing that matters have gotten really dire. The nature of Amonkhet and the powerset of Nicol Bolas are also uniquely suited in such a way that Wizards could continue printing cards of a Planeswalker who dies here; Gideon color-shifts to black and becomes an undead soldier of Bolas, for instance.

And as I noted, Ajani is waiting in the wings to pop in as soon as they're done in Amonkhet and be the new white Gatewatch PW.

edited 18th May '17 1:39:50 PM by TobiasDrake

I am not sure Gideon is going to die here specifically. First we'll have to find out what MYSTERY SECRET he was discussing with fake Erebos when Emrakul was in the Gatewatch's heads at the end of EMN, and I think this will happen during the inevitable Return to Theros.

And that's where he's going to bite the dust. :D

edited 18th May '17 1:47:06 PM by LeChuck4

There are also two things that I think we need to see, still. One is Ajani returning with help, because I want to see how Narset responds to yet another plane that an ancient dragon has corrupted and erased the history of.

The other is the eventual showdown between Gideon and Ob Nixilus, which was sort-of foreshadowed, sort-of not in BFZ. My prediction at the time was that we would eventually find our way to a Knights-and-Castles plane where he and Ob would lead armies against one another.

Pretty sure Ob's set up as Nissa's archnemesis.

Primarily, yes. And I think that Nissa will be the one to finish him. But there was the fight in BFZ where he violently humbles Gideon and then all but says that they'll finish later. This was also the storyline where Gideon starts to learn how to be a proper leader, and our introduction to Ob emphasized his military prowess. It all seemed to add up to some future resolution between them.

Durazno, I think you are mistaken there. Gideon's real Nemesis in that encounter wasn't Ob Nixilis. It was three inches of dirty water.

I stand corrected. Someday, Gideon will have to face and defeat three inches of dirty water.

Possible Commander 2017 leaks?

Hightlights include CAT DRAGON and The Ur-Dragon. Not the Scion, the real deal.

I really like The Ur-Dragon. I love cost reducing effects and this one is free.

Cat dragon token! Squee!!

I hope they have good mana-fixing lands that doesn't rely so much on CIPT. Otherwise, it's going to make a deck that's naturally high curved and slow even slower....I do like the Ur-Dragon in my Scion's 99 though.

edited 28th May '17 10:01:30 PM by nightwyrm_zero

Commander Anthology content released.

New Story. Commander filler.

edited 31st May '17 11:35:58 AM by googlebot

Planeswalker Samut, New Nicol Bolas and 3cc Damnation.