MTG Salvation

I got my FTV: Dragons set from GenCon this morning. But as much as I love Dragons, I'm keeping my set sealed right now until I find out exactly how limited these are going to be. One dealer was selling the 15 Dragons individually, and they all totaled up to a whopping $244 for the set!

Anyway, here are the 15 Dragon cards in the set:

*- indicates new artwork

Bladewing the Risen
Bogardan Hellkite
Draco
Dragon Whelp*
Dragonstorm
Ebon Dragon
Form of the Dragon*
Hellkite Overlord
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Nicol Bolas*
Niv Mizzet, the Firemind
Rith, the Awakener*
Shivan Dragon*
Thunder Dragon*
Two-Headed Dragon

I was shocked to see Ebon Dragon in here. This set is awesome.

Hellkite Overlord is as follows:

Hellkite Overlord
4BRRG
Creature - Dragon
Flying, trample, haste
R: Hellkite Overlord gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
BG: Regenerate Hellkite Overlord.
8/8

"The dragon has no pretense of compassion, no false mask of civilization -- just hunger, heat, and need."
- Sarkhan Vol

Sorry the pics aren't of better quality. It's the best I could do with my crappy camera phone. I'm sure someone will be along soon enough to provide higher quality scans.

Image added from Gatherer:

Woo Dragonstorm!!!!!!!!

I Knew It!!!!!

EDIT: I like Hellkite Overlord's flavor text.

Okay, now on to Shards of Alara.

There was a wall with three pics of each different "world."

First up, Bant:

Ebon Dragon and Thunder Dragon have sold me, if I can manage to get my hands on one of these of course.

So, that Overlord is real. Good to hear some confirmation.

Any news about Alara from the GenCon? Oh, wait, there is... Keep it coming!

Esper:

Grixis:

• Bladewing the Risen
  
• Bogardan Hellkite
  
• Draco
  
• Dragon Whelp
  
• Dragonstorm
  
• Ebon Dragon
  
• Form of the Dragon
  
• Hellkite Overlord
  
• Kokusho, the Evening Star
  
• Nicol Bolas
  
• Niv Mizzet, the Firemind
  
• Rith, the Awakener
  
• Shivan Dragon
  
• Thunder Dragon
  
• Two-Headed Dragon

Autocarded, for those of us who don't know all the old cards.

Cool stuff in here though, that's for sure! Thanks!

Jund:

Dragon Whelp? Boo....

I wish they had Mist Dragon...but hey, who likes phasing anyways right?

But this is huge news. From the looks of the scan Hellkite Overlord has been confirmed.

Also I would like to express my disappointment with the total lack of Eternal Dragon. For that matter, my disappointment in the choice of non-red dragons. Too many black dragons IMO, I think if they spread the love a little more over the color pie I'd consider buying a set...

Meh.

One final thought...as awesome as these dragons are, I think too many of them are recent.

Naya:

which cards have reminder text?

SoA poster:

And, finally, a Jace vs. Chandra poster:

Have to say, I'm more than a little underwhelmed at the choices in the 'from the vault'. I won't be picking a set up.

EBON DRAGON?! I'M SOLD! Holy crap those are some nice dragons! Dragonstorm, saw that one coming. And the Shard previews are nice too!

Quote from Shade

And, finally, a Jace vs. Chandra poster:

So that's jace under the hood eh? Never woulda guessed...

So, we have a new Sphinx art and Jund wallpaper straight from the future. Sphinx looks pretty exciting...

Also, note that each plane is represented with a basic land, a wallpaper and a huge creature... including Hellkite Overlord. Maybe the other ones are the other tri-color rares?

The inclusion of Dragon Whelp surprises me. Doesn't seem like something a piece would get a collector to bite.

I'd rather have had Kiega instead of Koshuko, but only because he's banned in EDH. I imagine most folks would not agree.

I'd also have gone with a dragon proper in the Form slot, but I understand some folks will really like the Dragonstorm.

Definitely a cool set for collectors.

I was wondering if we could get some pictures of the actual cards - I'd love to see the new foiling process.

So, Vol isn't on the red wallpaper? Or is that a really odd version of him? He looks like he'd be from the same plane, definitely - the clothing style is much the same - but there are enough differences that I want to say it's not the same person, especially in the face. Shucks. I guess I would've lost that bet.

This just muddles the whole planeswalker theory thing even more. Now I'm hesitant to say who's what, other than that three out of the five wallpapers seem to have characters on the PW box.

Edit: Looking at it again, that spear looks almost exactly the same. Gah... It's so hard to tell. Is that Vol?

Quote from Shade

Hellkite Overlord
4BRRG
Creature - Dragon
R: Hellkite Overlord gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
BG: Regenerate Hellkite Overlord.
8/8

Big, firebreathing, and regenerating. I can't say I haven't come up with that exact combination 40 or 50 times in the Card Creation forum. Completely 100% Timmy, and unplayable in anything but casual Dragon tribe decks. I'm not saying it's bad design, but it certainly isn't going to win any originality awards, if that's exactly how it'll be printed. Oh well!

Some great artwork for ALA there, thanks Shade. Each setting looks like it's conflicted, to me. It seems like it's got elements of neighboring mana types seeping into it, changing the colour and nature of the land. I don't think I've seen that before in Magic.

I was amazed that Eternal Dragon and Quicksilver Dragon were not included.

They're the most powerful choices for white and blue. Quicksilver was never played because that was the season of the Great Nerfing of Blue, but it is an absolute beating at the multiplayer table.

Seriously, Dragon whelp? I think they should have done some surveys of players to find out what their favourite dragons of all time were. I suspect this guy got in because he was a pet favorite card of an old school designer, but I don't think it was the best choice for a collector's product.

There's also a poster included about the history of Magic dragons, along with a complete Magic dragon checklist, background info for each dragon in the set, and the rules for Elder Dragon Highlander.

I also included a closer scan of Hellkite Overlord (still blurry, but you can pretty much confirm the stats).

Uh, someone please tell me that that hellkite overlord flies too... before I go and punch something hard in anger.

Quote from Hambot

Uh, someone please tell me that that hellkite overlord flies too... before I go and punch something hard in anger.

The following text needs to be added to the OP:

Flying, Trample, Haste.


That should make you feel better.