Number of Cards 274 Prerelease Events September 29-30, 2012 Release Date October 5, 2012 Official Three-Letter Code RTR Twitter Hashtag #MTGRTR

Latest Spoilers:

9/18/12

Armada Wurm 2GGWW Creature – Wurm Trample

When Armada Wurm enters the battlefield put a 5/5 Wurm creature token with trample onto the battlefield. 5/5

Seems fine. I looked at the rares that are going to be in the guild packs, and I actually think I will go Selesnya. All of the rares, even the bad ones, are nutty in limited. Sure Rakdos has Dreadbore, but it also has a lot of bad cards, too. It’s good to see a card that’s going to enable populate because I am a big fan of that mechanic in limited. It’s going to get out of hand in a big way if enabled properly. Who knew G/W would be the high power/ low consistency guild? Take a look at all of the rares that will be in the set and make up your own mind. But a week ago I was all about either Rakdos or Golgari, but the smart money is on Azorious or Selesnya. No one is fighting you for these colors and all of the rares are real winners in limited. Unless you really want to pay a million mana for a circus horse, that is.

Golgari Charm and Utavara Hellkite

I thought they waited on Golgari charm because it was the weakest. Unfortunately I was right. Blerg. The last ability is bad removal, as is the first ability. The middle ability is worse removal. Blerg.

Edit- To get a different perspective, I took to Twitter where Chad Havas and Corbin Hosler spent the night high-fiving each other and mentally spending their pro tour winnings.

Ok, he didn’t really FOAM at the mouth, per se, but he let me know my assessment of the charm was non-correct.

In their estimation, what we have in Golgari charm is a maindeckable sideboard card. Maybe that’s what all of the charms are, really. They have useful modes to bring in, but since they aren’t useless when drawn in other scenarios, they are maindeckable. According to these two bozos, the card at least warrants testing. So if you want to play golgari (I hear zombies is a deck) why not jimmy jam this guy main and test it out?

The Dargon, meanwhile, is a nifty Dargon. I would expect no less from an 8 mana mythic. If it attacks, expect to win. It’s a bomb in limited and you try to play him if you can. He’s also really durdly so keep them around to trade to the EDH crowd (who got Kokusho back for their Dargon decks!) and you should make a few bucks since this guy will most likely be bulk.

9/17/12

Firemind’s Foresight

Here’s another spoiler for today!

While I have never quite seen a tutor like this before, I’m not sure how powerful it is. Let’s get real, a 7 mana casting cost is way too prohibitive for this card, which only fetches your instant targets into your hand. You still need to resolve these spells!

Rogue’s Passage

No artwork yet for this Uncommon land, but it sure is interesting:

Land

Tap: Add (1) to your mana pool.

4,Tap : Target creature is unblockable this turn.

So basically, you trade off a land that can’t tap for colors and get a very useful ability later in the game. Being able to punch throw a creature in an uncounterable way is pretty strong. Of course with this card only being an uncommon, it won’t be too ridiculously expensive but I could see this one hitting heights of Tectonic Edge if it sees similar levels of play. – Sig

So… they spoiled all but ten cards. Since we got a ton dumped on us, I think I’ll talk about the stuff worth talking about and leave you to either wait to see the rest later or find the 15th pick cards elsewhere. I will post a link, but the stuff that bears discussion will be discussed.

Azor’s Elocutors

You’re lucky you came here. This card was spoiled literally minutes ago. Who loves ya?

Remember Luminarch Ascension? Luminarch Ascension was my favorite way to win. That deck lead me to rule FNM with an early build of Superfriends (Pre Gideon and Pre JTMS!) that played red and white removal, a few counters, some card draw and Luminarch. White and Blue seems like the kind of guild that has the business to protect you the best. Yes, this card probably isn’t as playable as Luminarch Ascension. It’s easier to kill, harder to put out and doesn’t start accumulating counters until your 6th turn. It’s probably bad. But you know who likes bad cards? Bad players. And they don’t like anything more than a card that says “win the game”. These will likely be cheap. Get some foils and wait for the price to go up. I can’t imagine it won’t.

Palisade Giant

This seems ok at making sure you win with Elocutors. Look everyone! A bad combo! In other news, this is pretty good in limited. Giving it protection from a color could really get there as well.

Search The City

What a clunky card! Obviously garbage in limited unless you REALLY draft a lot of multiple copies of spells, this has potential in constructed. This card is begging to be broken, and it does two things you really want in a blue card; draws you extra cards and gives you extra turns. This is a card with a ton of upside. This will likely be very cheap to preorder and if it does anything, it could easily double or triple in value. It reminds me of Hive Mind in that it’s got a powerful effect and it will not be long before someone figures out how best to abuse it. Any card that puts a copy of a card you’ve just played back into your hand seems nuts to me. While this isn’t going in every deck, and it sucks in EDH, this is a card to watch.

Grave Betrayal

I wish this card didn’t cost 7 mana. That way I could auto include it in every black deck I built. 7 mana is a lot, but every removal spell being a 2 creature swing in your favor is worth that much. I don’t think this is quite a Debtor’s Knell in EDH but fortunately you don’t have to pick and can just jam with both. This card costs a lot, but I like it and if you can get it out, it’s hard to lose with an army of all of their dudes. Plus, if you have 7 mana for enchantments, you have 7 mana for wiping their whole board with Mutilate.

Necropolis Regent

Flying

Whenever a creature you control deals damage to an opponent, put that many +1/+1 counters on it.

I prefer it when my Curse of Stalked Prey can swing for 6. This could be a good finisher for vampires, if that deck ever materializes. – Jason

9/16/12

Keyrune Cycle

Well we’re off to a good start on the day with these suckers. So what are they? Bad signets? Good Talismans? Cheaper totems? Certain to be used for mana fixing and beats in a pinch in Commander, these guys look great for limited as well. This set is much more intent on making players choose a guild than sets in the past have been but these can fix mana in a pinch. You won’t be activating these if they’re your only source of splash mana in play but they pack a wallop in the right deck. Rumor has it that Selesnya is getting a keyrune that turns into a Watchwolf. Not bad, not bad. I think these will see EDH and limited play, only time will tell whether they have a place in Standard. An Azorious Keyrun that makes a flying creature seems like it could be what that sort of deck (one that wants to wrath all the time) likes. Celestial Colonnade it is not, but with a cheaper activation cost it could beat earlier and still leave you with mana up. I like this cycle a ton.

Rakdos, Lord of Riots

This card oozes Rakdos flavor and looks pretty playable. To paraphrase Conley Woods “This set has 2 Abyssal Persecutors? Offer accepted!” Not being able to play him unless you do what Rakdos does and deal them damage on your turn seems fine. Making your other beaters a little cheaper depending on how much damage you deal seems fine as well. With every burn spell effectively reducing the colorless mana costs on good Rakdos beaters like Falkenrath Aristocrat (I hope you bought yours when I said to, they’re at $15 bucks now, sold out) to 2, the game can end pretty quickly. Not that a 6/6 flying trample needs an ability to make him playable. This is the beat stick Rakdos was waiting for. – Jason

9/15/12

Rakdos Charm

Wow, ok. So that happened.

Do you like Black Red decks? Do you ever plan to bring in cards out of the sideboard? I feel like this is 3 sideboard cards in one, one of which is sometimes a Lava Axe. While Lava Axe isn’t the best sideboard card, I think you get my drift. A card that can shut down graveyard or artifact strategies or sit in your hand until you can say “Oops, I win” seems pretty good. I predicted the fact that the Rakdos and Golgari charms were not spoiled with the rest probably indicated they were weak. I am glad I was wrong.

9/14/12

Detention Sphere

By now, most of you have seen this recently spoiled Oblivion Ring upgrade:

This card is definitely going to see play. Oblivion Ring sees play all the way from Standard to Legacy, and combining O-ring with Maelstrom Pulse certainly makes for a potent card. But it is already pre-selling at $10. As a rare and not mythic, this card probably won’t have a lot more potential upside. Not many rares surpass $10 unless they see a ton of play (see: Snapcaster Mage, Stoneforge Mystic, etc.). That being said, Maelstrom Pulse DID see almost $20 in Standard. So is it impossible for Detention Sphere to increase? No. Am I banking on that with a pre-order? Nope. I’d rather see how the metagame shifts and buy in after.

Ash Zealot

I’m not really impressed with Ash Zealot. If a player wants to hose graveyard strategies, I don’t think this fragile creature is the way to do it. The metagame would have to warp pretty severely for this card to exceed much beyond bulk pricing. 2/2 Haste and First Strike is pretty good by itself, so perhaps in a red aggressive strategy this has a home? It is pre-selling on eBay for $4 each, but I don’t see how it can keep that price.

Pithing Needle

Look what has returned!

Of course, while certainly an everpresent sideboard card, the days of Pithing Needle being financially relevant are long over. Multiple reprints will do that to a card.

– Sigmund

9/13/12

Sphinx’s Revelation

U/W Control just got a new card to add to their arsenal:

Instant speed card draw is always worth a second look, especially when life gain is also involved. While I don’t think the card’s ability is epic enough to be a Mythic Rare, I do think the card is constructed playable. Cheapest preorder price is in the $5-$6 range at auction. I don’t think I want to go in too deep here since this card is only for certain strategies. So unless the metagame warps completely around this card, I don’t see a ton of upside. That being said, a playable Mythic Rare doesn’t usually drop much below a few bucks, so downside isn’t too great either.

9/12/12

Angel of Serenity

Well, I have a confession to make. I have made my first Return to Ravnica preorder:

Chas Andres tweeted how strong this card is and while my enthusiasm is tepid, it is a Mythic Rare Angel card with a powerful ability. The card began preordering at $5 and it’s already reaching $7-$8 preorder (Star City Games has them at $7.99). Do I recommend everyone dives in? Not necessarily – I encourage you to evaluate this one for yourself. But Avacyn, Angel of Hope, a Mythic Rare angel that sees almost no constructed play, is sold out at SCG for $11.99. So yeah, you could preorder something worse. But since I collect Angels I am VERY biased – proceed with caution!

Epic Experiment

Wow. Unless I’m misevaluating this card entirely, the only experiment here may be on the part of R&D to see if they can make Johnnys everywhere hyperventilate until they pass out. Probably not the best card ever for Standard, this may be playable in some manner of hilarious Storm deck in Modern or maybe even Legacy. Casting this with a couple of Rite of Flames for X= 5 or 6 could be the start of a very good chain of spells provided you play enough cantrips and rituals. Blue is certainly a color that allows you to set this up so you know what at least the first few spells will be which can lead to some very good turns. I don’t know whether this is a card to preorder but it looks like a lot of fun and the set needs cards like that, too.

Wild Beastmaster





I don’t really care for the translation of “Wild Beastmaster” myself, since the card is more literally translated as “savage/wild mistress of the beasts” which is way cooler. I dig that other languages conjugate nouns and verbs according to the art on the card in a way that we don’t always in English. Anyway, the card is translated thus:

Whenever ~ attacks, each other creature you control gains +x/+x until the end of the turn where x is the power of ~.

As a human and shaman (read “non-elf”) she won’t be getting a ton of tribal bonuses but there are other ways to pump her and she combines with Selesnya Charm nicely to turn into a budget Craterhoof Behemoth. She’s better than a poke in the eye, even when attacking for 1.

Pyroconvergence

Clearly this set’s Burning Vengeance, they were careful not to make this enchantment cost 2R lest it would actually see play. Too many manas. Maybe a decent finisher in a deck that runs four copies of Epic Experiment? As Wild Beastmaster would say,<<je pense que non>>.

Martial Law

My Spanish isn’t quite as good as my French, but I am pretty sure this reads:

At the beginning of your Upkeep, detain target creature an opponent controls.

Seems quite good. This is a card you will never not want in Limited, and in control matchups where your opponent wants to swing with their one bomb…. they can’t. Good in Commander, solid in the control mirror, silly in Commander; I like this card a lot. No one else seems to; a four set is preordering for $5 on the bay. Seems non correct.

Precinct Captain

My Italian is even worse than my Spanish as all I know how to say in Italian is “Bobbity Boopity” and “Fugeddaboudit” but this card seems straightforward enough with the help of google translation software.

First Strike

Whenever Precinct Captain deals combat damage to a player, put a 1/1 white soldier token into play.

He’s a human soldier, he makes their life harder when he connects, he’s silly with Ajani, he’s silly with Silverblade Paladin, he’s silly with Sublime Archangel, he’s silly in limited; I like this silly goose. However, he reminds me a lot of Elite Inquisitor, another card that seems really silly and is currently a bulk rare. Time will tell. This is shaping up to be a slow limited format, however, so unless that changes, expect him to be quite a clock there.

Sphinx of the Chimes

And now they’re giving me cards that don’t even characters I recognize. My Japanese is a little bit rusty, but what I can make out is roughly:

Flying

Discard two nonland cards with the same name: Draw 4 cards.

In limited, it doesn’t matter that he has an activated ability. In Constructed… I don’t know when this will be all that good. Pitching dead soft counters and small creatures late is ok, pitching two copies of Think Twice is not the worst thing ever… it’s hard to evaluate, but anything that says “Draw four cards” and is a 5/6 flier is waiting to be broken. Commander players love this kind of card and will get excited for roughly .0005 seconds before they realize they can’t use him at all.

Growing Ranks

My first thought was “Momir Vig Basic” which is a format where this would be hilarious unless I am wrong about what Momir Vig Basic actually is, which is likely. Populating every turn is quite good if you have something to put out. If not, this does a whole lot of nothing. However, Doubling Season and Parallel Lives do a whole lot of nothing on their own and, oops, I just named two cards that are silly with this one. Add a Privileged Position, a Seance, maybe a Sterling Grove, oh God, I’m brewing Commander, someone shoot me in the face.

Speaking of Parallel Lives and Doubling Season, this is this set’s, er, them. Pick these up accordingly.

9/11/12

Cyclonic Rift

This card is certainly noteworthy. For two mana you can bounce a nonland permanent – ok, so it’s a slightly better Boomerang for 1U. But for its Overload ability, you get to bounce all of your opponent’s nonland permanents at instant speed! Can you say…GG? End of turn, bounce all your stuff, untap, attack, watch your opponent take a few turns trying to recover while you kill them.

Ok, so maybe it won’t work that well but it is still worth some discussion. Currently on eBay, this card is pre-selling for $3-$4. As usual, I’m not preordering anything and this rare won’t be any exception. But I could see this card keeping above bulk values, at least thanks to casual/EDH players.

9/10/12

Faerie Impostor

Starting us out today is a fairly innocuous-looking card at first glance. However, if Delver decks continue to rule the skies, this may not be the worst foil for delver, and returning a Snapcaster Mage to your hand isn’t necessarily the worst drawback ever. Kor Skyfisher saw play and while this card is more restrictive in the types of permanents it returns, its cheap mana cost make it easy to play this and hold up mana to play other spells. Probably not terrible in limited given Azorius’ plethora of creatures that arrest your opponent’s permanents when they come into play this guy may turn out to be a nice little enabler that is quite a clock once in play.

Underworld Connections

This enchantment essentially turns any land into an instant-speed Phyrexian Arena. Obviously the nuts in Limited, this card may see constructed play given the playability of Arena type effects. Not quite the clock Arena was, this can be activated at will so it is much less of a liability. However, it’s vulnerable to a wider array of removal than was Phyrexian Arena. Expect this card to see Commander play as well.

Nivmagus Elemenatal

Much better for flavor than for playability, I fear, this guy can still get you value for your countered spells. Pro Tip- Guttersnipe says “cast” not “resolve”. Adding two counters at a time can build fast, and if Tarmogoyf taught us anything it’s that creatures that can build to a power and toughness much larger than their casting cost are very playable. A very “Izzet” card, this is a personal favorite and my foils are preordered.

Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice

Doran EDH players just called; they said they can’t make their playgroup this week because they tore their rotator cuffs giving each other high fives for hours since this card was spoiled. Populate is a silly mechanic and this mother does it at will. Does this mean Seance is a card? All I know is that if you manage to make anything halfway decent in token form you can start gaining all the life. UUGGWW is harsh, but Cackling Counterpart is a possibility in a deck like this as well. Making a bajillion copies of Wayfaring Temple seems like it might seal the deal.

9/9/12:

Desecration Demon

I haven’t heard a lot about this recent spoiled card, but any 6/6 flyer for 4 mana deserves some discussion. Sure, against tokens strategies he’s weak, but imagine him up against a mid-range deck playing Geist of Saint Traft and the like. Though, I suppose even Snapcaster Mage can be sacrificed to keep this Demon at bay. Seems like this card has immediate value, but thinking more strategically, you really want to get this guy out in the early game. But early game is when your opponent will likely have a bunch of smaller, inconsequential creatures to keep this one at bay.

Pre-selling at $4, this could be worth keeping an eye on. I remember Abyssal Persecutor getting a LOT more hype for being a 6/6 flyer for the same casting cost. Of course…the persecutor never really made it big, did it?

Rakdos’s Return

This Mythic Rare, on the other hand, has been receiving a lot of hype. Star City Games is pre-selling this card at $15, but I’m not so convinced it’s as amazing as many players think. It’s very difficult to make Discard spells that don’t let you look at your opponent’s hand constructed-playable. The last card I can think of that broke down this barrier was the common Blightning. And Blightning did 3 damage and nabbed 2 cards for 3 mana! Sure, a greater X could make this spell more powerful, but to surpass Blightning, X would need to be 3. This would make the spell 5 mana to blightning your opponent and have him discard 1 extra. That hardly seems worth it, and by the time you’re hitting X = 4, 5, etc. your opponent is mostly out of cards in hand anyway. I’m not buying it.

9/6/12:

Abrupt Decay

Uncounterable removal is always worth a second glance and Abrupt Decay is no exception. It’s sort of like a pseudo-vindicate, pseudo-smother. I’m actually thinking this card may see some Legacy play. Vindicate sees play, but how many permanents in Legacy have CMC greater than 3? Jace? Giant creatures and enchantments that get cheated into play? That’s mostly it, actually. Seems like this could be a powerful utility removal spell that hits all sorts of permanents in Legacy, and that uncounterable clause just may make this playable. In Modern, things are to be determined but I’m sure people will try it out and likewise in Standard.

It’s only a rare, but certainly this one won’t Decay into bulk rare status (sorry, it’s 6am and I couldn’t resist).

9/5/12:

Vraska, the Unseen

A brand new Planeswalker has been spoiled today! After a handful of seemingly powerful Izzet cards, we finally have a Golgari card to get excited about. This is quite the powerful Planeswalker. It protects itself, it nearly guarantees at least a 1:1 trade (it dissuades your opponent from attacking it) and its ultimate is quite cool. While not an auto-win ultimate, it creates three threats that your opponent must deal with immediately.

Even at five mana, Vraska is so much more powerful than the newest Jace. Look for her to fit in well with any decks playing a B/G combination. I’d expect her to get mentioned in multiple insider articles as well.

9/4/12:

Lots to get to today, and let’s start with the one talked about the most.

Dryad Militant

Wow, where to begin. Putting cards like Savannah Lion to shame this hate bear comes down on turn 1 and immediately makes life hard for snapcaster mage. Some have been quick to point out the cards is a bit overrated as hate bears get bolted.

What happens to Dryad Militant when it gets bolted? Judge and Twitter favorite Art Halavais wrote a nice blog post about it on his blog here.

Whether you expect it to be as good as everyone says it is or not, expect this to be the lynchpin in a new, aggressive Selesnya build that may call upon friends like Thalia, Guardian Of Thraben to help out. Your days are numbered, Burning Vengeance.

Worldspine Wurm

Quite a bit costlier to play and harder to recur than Wurmcoil Engine this guy lives up to his designation as a Mythic Rare. Expect this guy to make a splash in Commander where 11 mana isn’t prohibitive for a creature at all, especially in green. He seems like just a bad Emrakul in older formats, but if there is a way to cheat creatures into play in newer sets (besides Unburial Rites) expect to see this guy at the top of the list.

Havoc Festival

Whether or not you consider the mana cost prohibitive, this card is pure Rakdos flavor. More than just a really expensive Rain of Gore, this card makes sure if your opponent was planning to gain some life and make the game go long, it’s not happening. Win or lose, the Rakdos mage is ending the round with time to grab some food before the next one starts. Not the most exciting card I’ve seen yet, but you have to admit; it’s Rakdos all right.

Judge’s Familiar

What if Cursecatcher could fly and get played in mono white? Wonder no more as Cursecatcher trades his relevant tribal designation for a pair of wings. Good in concert with Thalia, this card may help keep Bonfire of the Damned and Mizzium Mortars a little saner and throw off miracle math in general. Not a surprise, but rather a flying, attacking threat of a force spike the familiar sits on the table and makes your opponent tack a question mark to the end of every sentence when they try to declare and instant or sorcery. Get foils. Get them now.

“Loleth” Troll

I don’t sprechen the old Deutch as well as I would like to, but I’m pretty sure I have the gist of this old boy.

Trample

Discard a creature card from your hand: Put a +1/+1 counter on Loleth Troll.

: Regenerate Loleth Troll

Unless I have botched the translation completely. Unfortunately lacking a troll’s trademark brand of shroud, this guy is a must-answer. Able to pitch creatures as an instant-speed combat trick is always nice, and the counters are permanent. If Unsummon replaces Vapor Snag this guy could be a bit of a liability, but with the Golgari graveyard mechanic being so powerful, playing the troll merely as an enabler that can beat some face seems fine. a 2/1 regenerator for 2 is good enough; add to it trample and pumpability and this could really get there in a hurry. Oh, and he’s a zombie. Because why not.

9/3/12:

Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius

The new Niv-Mizzet has been spoiled this morning! Check it out:

This guy is definitely powerful, and you can bet people will be playing him in EDH. And since he’s not a Planeswalker, I believe you can have both variations of Niv-Mizzet on the battlefield at the same time. I’d imagine the foil version of this guy will be even more financially relevant. As for constructed play, I think we’ll have to wait and see what cards will have strong synergies with this one.

Mizzium Mortars

That’s not the only spoiler I want to add this morning. Yesterday, we saw the new and improved Flame Wave.

Mizzium Mortar is obviously a bomb in Standard. It’s a key spot removal for early game, or it can be a Flame Wave if you draw it late. I’m also expecting this card may see some play in constructed, but I’m not sure how it compares with Bonfire of the Damned, which also has a lot of flexibility built in. I’m going to guess some finance writers will be discussing this one further.

Isperia, Supreme Judge

Yet another Mythic spoiled today:

Isperia, Supreme Judge is a huge flier, and quite ugly to be honest. But at 6 mana, having a 6/4 flier that draws you cards seems very strong in a control deck. If only it had hexproof! Like Consecrated Sphinx, your opponent will want to kill this card very quickly before the game advances. Of course, if they have 2 flipped Delver of Secrets then you’re not attacking into them and he’s not going to attack you. At that point, Isperia is simply putting up a wall until he gets killed. Your opponent is going to need a very good reason to attack you with Isperia in play. I’m just not sure how often that will happen since Isperia is so vulnerable to cards like Mizzium Mortar. 5/5 would have been more potent…

Death’s Presence

This seems like a bulk rare to me.

A six mana enchantment that’s only good when your creatures are dying? Sure, giving every creature Modular is neat, but at six mana I’d rather be casting Isperia myself. Maybe I’m missing something, but I think we’ve got our first bulk rare spoiled from RtR.

9/1/12:

Grim Roustabout

The latest spoiler card from Return to Ravnica reveals to us a new keyword for Rakdos:

In my opinion, the unleash mechanic is a terrific ability flavor-wise. The concept of unleashing a creature and letting it go all out aggressive but with the drawback of not blocking seems perfect for Rakdos. This particular card isn’t spectacularly relevant from a finance standpoint. But should Wizards print a single black mana zombie that is 1/1 with unleash, then aggressive Zombie decks truly seem viable.

Goblin Electromancer

Well it looks like Snapcaster Mage has a new best friend in the form of this Izzet goblin.

Anyone who still doubted Snappy’s relevance post rotation should finally be silenced. Even combining this goblin with something simple like Think Twice can be potent. Dissipate is even BETTER than original counterspell when this 2/2 creature is on the board.

Izzet sure has the most powerful spoiled cards so far and I doubt it’s over. If only there was a [card Sulfur Falls]U/R land[/card] that would enable color fixing in an Izzet deck…

Jace, Architect of Thought

Another PAX discovery, this Jace isn’t quite the U/R colored Jace we’d been expecting, nor was it the Adviser to the Firemind seen “spoiled” before. This Jace, however, promises to impact Limited and Commander in ways no Jace has to date. With a relatively quick build to an ultimate that promises to make the entire EDH table take notice of you, this planeswalker could paint a big target on your back. It may also give you enough of an advantage in the form of a Bribery universe that it may not matter.

This wasn’t the only surprise from PAX, nor was it the most exciting.

Chromatic Lantern

Control players all over are pinching themselves. The last time 5 color control was truly a dominant force, Lorwyn block, we had a useful 3 mana filtering artifact in the form of Coalition Relic. This promises to have as much of an impact or more. This card is one of the most exciting spoiled so far.

Speaking of Spoiled

Before you click this link, be warned. This content was obtained as a result of someone hacking a facebook application that had all of the art files for the set. You may not want this spoiled for you. However, some people will want to see this information and we elected to provide it. Please be apprised, this is a massive spoiler, and you cannot unsee any of this art.

With that out of the way, click here to see all the leaked art.

Some clever folks are already on top of things, matching up art they think confirms the reprinting of original Ravnica shocklands.

I elected not to post the pictures. You can find them at this link. Please be aware that this is a massive spoiler.

We didn’t need this sort of detective work for long, however, as a few hours after this post went up, someone snapped some more conclusive proof at PAX. This picture went up on Toby Elliot’s twitter page tonight.



The quality isn’t the greatest, but the take home lesson here is that Shocklands are confirmed. You heard it here, first.

Mike Kenyon just provided a better quality picture on Twitter, confirming Shocklands:

8/27/12:

Izzet vs. Golgari Spoiled!

At last we have some new spoilers from Return to Ravnica. The news came to us in the spoiled Izzet vs. Golgari deck lists!

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/210

What were the highlights? Besides the interesting reprints (Life from the Loam, Eternal Witness, Isochron Scepter) there are some interesting new ones.

The first noteworthy card is Izzet Charm:



Any one of these abilities would have been pretty underwhelming on a single card, but the ability to choose any one of the three is much more exciting. What’s even sweeter is that this will likely be a cycle, and hopefully all the charms will be as playable.

We also have one new keyword revealed in Overload and another confirmed in Scavenge.

It’s cool that we have these new keywords revealed, but the uncommons spoiled themselves are less exciting in constructed play. In Limited, these cards seem great. If I had my guess, the Mangler is more playable in Standard since a 3/3 with haste for 3 that does something relevant in the late game is decent. But hopefully the rares with the Scavenge ability will be more exciting.

For the Overload keyword, I’m not sure what else to expect. Some people have been rumoring that a board sweeper could use the Overload mechanic, but since it’s Izzet colors, I don’t see that happening in either blue or red. Typically, true sweepers are saved for white and black. We will have to stay tuned to see if any of these new keywords show up on rares and mythic rares.

8/15/12:

Deadbridge Goliath

We have a new spoiler from Gen Con Trade Day. Check it out:

Here’s the card text: CC: 2GG

Scavenge 4GG (exile this card from your graveyard to put x plus 1 plus 1 counters on target freature where x is this creatures power. Use this ability only as a sorcery)

5/5 {Rare}

This is our first peak at a new ability in Rtr – Scavenge. It’s pretty interesting because it’s a 5/5 for 4 mana, which isn’t half bad, plus some late game ability to augment your guys. While I love how this card creates a psuedo two-for-one, I’m a little skeptical as to how relevant +5/+5 is after turn six. I think for this card to be strong, there will have to be a very compelling reason for me to want this guy to die (in essence possibly getting a three-for-one)? For now, I think there is more value in speculating on what other Scavenge cards could do. Time will tell.

8/14/12:

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

The first official spoiler for Return to Ravnica is this sweet Legendary Creature. It’s exciting to see Golgari will have some graveyard interactions again, and this card kind of reminds me of Savra, Queen of the Golgari. Hopefully the Lich Lord will be more constructed playable – it certainly helps that there are undying creatures that can be sacrificed to make bigger. The fact that Jarad can come back to your hand for two lands makes him much stronger in the late game.

There are certainly some cards that synergize well with Jarad from Innistrad block. As more Golgari cards become spoiled, I’m sure there will be financial articles that mention the right cards to buy from both RtR and Innistrad block. Time will tell if the synergies are powerful enough for constructed play.

Jace, Adviser to the Firemind

There were some rumored cards posted here:. Jace is definitely the most interesting card in the list, and I think it’s worth discussion. Here’s a list of the abilities:

Jace, Adviser to the Firemind

Planeswalker – Jace (Mythic Rare)

+2: Put a card from your hand on top of your library.

0: Look at target player’s hand.

-7: You get an emblem with “Whenever you draw a card, Jace, Adviser to the Firemind deals 2 damage to target creature or player.”

Loyalty: 1

While it is incredibly early for rumored spoilers, it is fun to consider their implications and be ready to act should they be proven true. For this Jace, the obvious speculation would be in miracles. Playing Jace on turn two, putting Temporal Mastery on top, and then getting a free turn after turn 3 seems significant. Possibilities are great with this card, but we’ll have to wait and see if it is confirmed. If so, you can expect a lot of talk on this card and the cards it effects in the forums and people’s articles.

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