MTG Salvation

Quote from Mishotem »

The article also mentions Belbe and a card called Explosion of Riches

As well as Kinsbaile Courier.

Quote from Tiro of Meletis »

Quote from Flamebuster »

There are some cool uncommons in this set, and the downshift for the Automation is nice to see.

Have to point out that the "living" DiPietro was "flamboyant." I'm not seeing any flamboyancy in his spirit. C'mon!

'buster

sis you ain't see that flowing hair and glowing lights as he cat walks down a glistening moonlit deck? This is as gay as it gets under the ghost sheets

Agreed, this art is a mood. Ramirez knows how to werk, chile. All about the drama. *tongue pop*

Quote from soramaro »

So much Sakashima love! At this point I wonder if he'll get a new card in this set (the red part of the "Will" cycle is Jeska and she has one…).

Bell Borca generates "extra draw" for Boros in a way that's long overdue.

I like Gnostro, although that white ability is … no comment.

I expect each Will to tie to a mythic partner, so we could be seeing a mythic Sakashima.

Quote from Max Rebo »

There has never been a less than rare in Extended border before, right?
The Cultivate etc in M21 were borderless.
This Boros Charm seems to only be extended border.
So NOW there are less than Rares in your extended border slot in the pack. Is that right?
I see a common with a extended border as well.

Yes.

Compiled leaks so far.

Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools 4B
Legendary Planeswalker — Szat (M)
+2: Create two 0/1 black Thrull creature tokens.
+1: You may sacrifice another creature or planeswalker. If you do, draw two cards, then draw another card if the sacrificed permanent was a commander.
-10: Gain control of all commanders, then put all commanders from the command zone onto the battlefield under your control.
~ can be your commander.
Partner
4

Jeska, Thrice-Reborn 2R
Legendary Planeswalker — Jeska (M)
~ enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter for each time you’ve cast a commander from the command zone this game.
0: Choose a creature. Until your next turn, if that creature would deal combat damage to an opponent, it deals triple that damage instead.
-X: ~ deals X damage to each of up to three targets.
~ can be your commander.
Partner
0

Liesa of Flight Penumbra 2WWB
Legendary Creature — Angel (M)
(First ability lets you pay commander tax with 2 life instead of 2 mana for each cast, not sure about English templating on this one.)
Flying, lifelink
Whenever a player casts a spell, you gain 2 life.
5/5

Elvish Dread Prince 3BB
Creature — Zombie Elf (R)
Deathtouch
When ~ dies, non-Elf creatures get -3/-3 until end of turn.
Encore—5BB, Exile ~ from your graveyard: Non-Elf creatures get -3/-3 until end of turn. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
3/3

Tormod the Graverobber 3B
Legendary Creature — Zombie Wizard (R)
Whenever one or more cards leave your graveyard, create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Partner
4/2

Court of Plenty 2GG
Enchantment (R)
When ~ enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. If you are the monarch, you may instead put a creature or a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.

Thalisse, Dignified Medium 3WB
Legendary Creature — Human Cleric (R)
At the beginning of your end step, create X 1/1 white Spirit creature tokens with flying, where X is the number of tokens that you've sacrificed this turn.
3/4

Obeka, Heartless Chronologist 2UBR
Legendary Creature — Ogre Wizard (R)
T: The player whose turn it currently is may end the turn.
3/4

Bladegriffin Prototype 5
Artifact Creature — Griffin (R)
Flying
Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player chooses a nonland permanent that one of your opponents controls. Destroy that permanent.
3/2

Esior, _______ 1U
Legendary Creature — Owl (U)
Flying
Spells your opponents cast that target commanders you control cost 3 more to cast.
Partner
1/3

Meteor Mace 4RR
Artifact — Equipment (U)
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has trample.
Equip 1
Cascade

Ich-Tehik, Scrap Splicer 4G
Legendary Creature — Human Artificer (U)
When ~ enters the battlefield, create a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token.
Whenever an artifact is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on ~ and on each Golem you control.
Partner
1/1

Reyav, Master Blacksmith RW
Legendary Creature — Dwarf Artificer (U)
Whenever a creature you control attacks, if it's enchanted or equipped, it gains double strike until end of turn.
2/2

Elvish Blackseer 1B
Creature — Elf Shaman (C)
When ~ dies, each opponent discards a card.
1/1

Maelstrom Colossus 8
Artifact Creature — Golem (C)
Cascade
7/7

Reprints:

• Boros Charm
  
• Cage of Hands
  
• Fertilid
  
• Fleshbag Marauder
  
• Goblin Trailblazer
  
• Lightning-Rig Crew
  
• Maelstrom Wanderer
  
• Makeshift Munitions
  
• Nekusar, the Mindrazer
  
• Palace Sentinels
  
• Reliquary Tower
  
• Return to Dust
  
• Sailor of Means
  
• Soul’s Fire
  
• Soul’s Might
  
• Sparktongue Dragon
  
• Spectral Searchlight
  
• Staff of Domination
  
• Supreme Will
  
• Three Visits
  
• Tymna the Weaver
  
• Universal Solvent
  
• Vow of Wildness
  
• Zedruu the Greathearted
  

So I've given it a couple of days of thought, and my conclusion is twofold:

1. There are three-and-a-half major arguments for banning these in EDH.
2. None of them hold up.

1. "These are a cash grab/intentionally limited, so we should ban them on principle."

The beauty of EDH is that unlike other formats, there isn't a defining best strategy for the overwhelming majority of environments. cEDH is a very small sliver of the community, and even there, there are still a multitude of top-tier deck builds and strategies (at least since the banning of Flash, which is tangentially relevant but not enough so for me to delve in-depth.) You don't need all the most expensive cards to play in an environment--and even if your playgroup is higher power, proxies or simple communication are always options. Not every product is for everyone.

To wit, there already is an artificial barrier to entry imposed on some cards with the RL. Do we say that these should be banned too? Sheldon stated as late as December of last year that scarcity/price is no longer an argument they use for banning a card. Thereby, this argument comes off as innately selfish, the inverse of the "I got mine so eff the rest" saw. To quote the official philosophy page:

The primary focus of the list is on cards which are problematic because of their extreme consistency, ubiquity, and/or ability to restrict others’ opportunities.

2. "TWD doesn't belong in Magic, so we should ban it on principle."

Ever since 1999, we have had an entire set pulled straight from another property: Portal: 3 Kingdoms. We have another one coming next year. Saying what aesthetically is "part of the game" and what isn't is entirely subjective and capricious: to use it as reasoning for a ban is dangerous. I have already seen reports of people excited to get in/back into the game with TWD as an impetus. Do we gatekeep them from using the cards that sparked their interest in one of the largest formats just because? I hope not.

(As an aside, I started following the game back in OG Ravnica. The number of things I've seen described as "not belonging" in Magic by now is too long to count.)

3. "The RC should be the voice of the community, and the majority has spoken for a bam."

The online community is not everyone that plays EDH. This is axiomatically true: to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. Similarly, it's within human nature to seek out things to criticize than to praise, especially on the Internet where opinions get amplified and reflected.

I also have the real fear that with the sanctioning of EDH as a format, the RC is no longer truly independent from WotC; and doing something to harm Hasbro's bottom line (like a ban) may cause the dissolution of the RC altogether.

3.5. "I don't like TWD."

...then that's a you problem. Please reread my point #2.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To anyone who read this, thanks for sticking with me, and going forward I hope you'll at least examine this release a bit more critically. I don't expect to change minds, though: this is a polarizing issue. But if I haven't, at least listen to my conclusion.

Banning these cards in EDH will do nothing but hurt the community. If you don't support Wizards' move of releasing this product, do not order it from them; do not buy the cards on the secondary market; and continue to respectfully voice criticism while understanding this is a complex problem.

That's all.

Quote from Obazervazi »

For once I agree with the whiners. Pay $50 now or you can never have a Negan Commander deck? What kind of business model is that?

Y'all act like the secondary market doesn't exist. Chill.

With all the FOMO surrounding these and speculators gobbling these up until they realize how mediocre they are to play, I can almost guarantee six months out singles will be $10 a pop on TCGPlayer. Nalathni Dragon was much more limited and it's ~$6 market value.

Retyped the spoilers using official syntax and placeholder names.

Since nobody brought it up explicitly: Stone-Throwing Devils is an anti-Palestinian slur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_stone-throwing

This is something WotC has known and acknowledged since at least 2014.

https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/106100301518/any-chance-of-seeing-the-arabian-nights-card

Reposting my guesses from another thread.

Quote from Phosphorus »

So what we know as fact:

• Three mythics, 13 rares, and 20 uncommons. (Not including Tezzeret BAB.)
• The uncommons form three cycles, two monocolored and one hybrid dual-color.
• Mythics and rares are roughly color-balanced.

My guesses, thus, are:

Mythics

1. Gideon Blackblade (W)
2. Liliana, Dreadhorde General (B)
3. Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God (UBR)

Rares

1. Karn, the Great Creator (C)
2. Ugin (C) -- This is confirmed by process of elimination: the color identities of all uncommons are known, and Ugin is colorless by nature.
3. Teyo (W) -- "Shieldmage" screams mono-white: plus I'm speculating this is the end of Gideon's story, so Teyo is his replacement in the 'watch.
4. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries (U)
5. Chandra, Fire Artisan (R)
6. Sarkhan (R?) -- Process of elimination: Sarkhan, Jaya and Tibalt are three mono-R walkers, and only two can be uncommon. It also seems weird to have both Jaya and Chandra at rare. Wouldn't be surprised if he has other colors, though.
7. Nissa, who Shakes the World (G)
8. Vivien (G) -- Same logic as Sarkhan: three mono-G walkers, and only two can be uncommon. Vivien has had much more prominence in the story than Jiang Yanggu.
9. Teferi, Time Raveler (WU)
10. Domri, Anarch of Bolas (RG)
11. Ajani, the Greathearted (GW)
12. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord (WB)
13. Ral, Storm Conduit (UR)

Uncommons

1. "Staff Lady" (W)
2. "Whip Lady" (W)
3. Narset (U) -- Dovin makes more sense in the Azorius slot.
4. Tamiyo (U)
5. Davriel (B)
6. Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted (B)
7. Jaya (R)
8. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator (R)
9. Arlinn, Voice of the Pack (G)
10. Jiang Yanggu (G)
11. Dovin ((W/U))
12. Ashiok ((U/B))
13. Angrath ((B/R))
14. Samut ((R/G))
15. Huatli ((G/W))
16. Kaya ((W/B))
17. Vraska, Swarm's Eminence ((B/G))
18. Kiora ((G/U))
19. Saheeli ((U/R))
20. Nahiri ((R/W))

So what we know as fact:

• Three mythics, 13 rares, and 20 uncommons. (Not including Tezzeret BAB.)
• The uncommons form three cycles, two monocolored and one hybrid dual-color.
• Mythics and rares are roughly color-balanced.

My guesses, thus, are:

Mythics

1. Gideon Blackblade (W)
2. Liliana, Dreadhorde General (B)
3. Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God (UBR)

Rares

1. Karn, the Great Creator (C)
2. Ugin (C) -- This is confirmed by process of elimination: the color identities of all uncommons are known, and Ugin is colorless by nature.
3. Teyo (W) -- "Shieldmage" screams mono-white: plus I'm speculating this is the end of Gideon's story, so Teyo is his replacement in the 'watch.
4. Jace, Wielder of Mysteries (U)
5. Chandra, Fire Artisan (R)
6. Sarkhan (R?) -- Process of elimination: Sarkhan, Jaya and Tibalt are three mono-R walkers, and only two can be uncommon. It also seems weird to have both Jaya and Chandra at rare. Wouldn't be surprised if he has other colors, though.
7. Nissa, who Shakes the World (G)
8. Vivien (G) -- Same logic as Sarkhan: three mono-G walkers, and only two can be uncommon.
9. Teferi, Time Raveler (WU)
10. Domri, Anarch of Bolas (RG)
11. Ajani, the Greathearted (GW)
12. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord (WB)
13. Ral, Storm Conduit (UR)

Uncommons

1. "Staff Lady" (W)
2. "Whip Lady" (W)
3. Narset (U) -- Dovin makes more sense in the Azorius slot.
4. Tamiyo (U)
5. Davriel (B)
6. Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted (B)
7. Jaya (R)
8. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator (R)
9. Arlinn, Voice of the Pack (G)
10. Jiang Yanggu (G)
11. Dovin ((W/U))
12. Ashiok ((U/B))
13. Angrath ((B/R))
14. Samut ((R/G))
15. Huatli ((G/W))
16. Kaya ((W/B))
17. Vraska, Swarm's Eminence ((B/G))
18. Kiora ((G/U))
19. Saheeli ((U/R))
20. Nahiri ((R/W))

Pulverize suggests otherwise.

My mind was trying to figure out what sorts of pitch spells would be acceptable nowadays... looting?

Dangerous Inspiration 1RR
Instant (R)
You may exile a red card or Mountain card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Exile the top two cards of your library. You may cast those cards this turn.
Clarity can be often found at the edge of a knife.

Quote from void_nothing »

Quote from ReapThaWhirlwind »

Quote from SecretInfiltrator »

I'd definitely split this into two separate activated abilities. Nobody wants to sit down and have to figure out whether this is a mana ability or not - just splitting it into two abilities one of which is definitely a mana ability and one that definitely isn't can prevent a lot of arguments.

This is the current template for modal effects. Austere Command

SecretInfiltrator knows that, but what he's trying to say is, you don't want to use modal for an effect like this due to occasional cases where activated abilities that aren't mana abilities can't be activated and similar. It creates unnecessary confusion when, for not much more text, you can have two activated abilities with the same cost, and have a more intuitive result.

Agreed. Plus, having one side of the modal be a mana ability and the other not can cause ruling headaches -- can this be activated whenever you could add mana, or not? Personally, I'm not sure, and having that ambiguity is bad. So splitting the abilities seems more optimal.

On a world of Hazunda, there are two countries in conflict. Continental and island dwellers never liked each other too much, but somehow managed to live in peace until the day when mysterious otherworldly merchant appeared and started to sell completely new yet different technologies (especially alchemy secrets) to both of them. Being armed to the level of tanks, airplanes and chemical warfare, two factions started an inevitable war and, of course, plunderer of worlds can't wait to maximize his profits from it...
Common 5 of 10:

(A choice of reprints, to flavor the set and align colors with factions.)

Ancestral Vengeance BB
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
When Ancestral Vengeance enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
Enchanted creature gets -1/-1.
"These machines have been bought with the money of your ancestors, foolish duke. They will come to collect their debts."
—Bazira, court vizier
{Watermark: Bajig Archduchy}

Call the Cavalry 3W
Sorcery
Create two 2/2 white Knight creature tokens with vigilance.
The noble Bajj houses send their eldest sons to military school, as obligation to the archduke.
{Watermark: Bajig Archduchy}