In connection to what Xias posted last time, the mechanic that Mark Rosewater said was coming back turned out to be Imprint. Though, according to the site, the ability will be utilised in new ways.

There are a few other new mechanics that have been mentioned, but I think I’ll handle the return of Phyrexia.

In Scars of Mirrodin, the Phyrexians are on the assault, trying to take over the plane. But they do it the sneaky way, taking over from the inside. In this set, the Mirrans (the inhabitants of Mirrodin) don’t even fully realise that they are under attack.

To play on this overtaking abilities of the Phyrexians, Magic has decided to use an ability. Infect, as discussed here, is an ability that the Phyrexians will probably exclusively have.  The set is said to have a poison theme.

Mark Rosewater mentioned that there will be no way to remove poison counters from yourself as there was back in Homelands. No Leeches in Scars of Mirrodin, it seems. Rosewater also mentioned that there will be ways to ‘deal with’ the poison, but you won’t be able to remove them. He was very mysterious.

Hm. That’s all, until I hear more.

“For a while I’ve said that a Mirrodin block mechanic is coming back in Scars. Everyone assumes it’s sunburst. It’s not.”

Straight from the horse’s mouth people. If you’re not familiar with Sunburst, I can point you to one such card that uses it: Pentad Prism.

Naturally, the idea here is to drive a big tournament that will help bring in sales for the game, but it looks like the company is trying to involve more players. Here’s the schedule, but you can also check out the official page here.

Paris, France: February 10–13, 2011

* Location: Espace Champerret
* Pro Tour format: Standard and Booster Draft with a Standard Top 8
* Grand Prix format: TBA
* Qualifier Season: October 2 through December 31, Sealed Deck format

Nagoya, Japan: June 10-12, 2011

* Location: Nagoya Congress Center
* Pro Tour format: Block Constructed and Booster Draft with a Booster Draft Top 8
* Qualifier Season: January 1 through April 10, Extended format

Philadelphia, PA USA: September 2-4, 2011

* Location: Philadelphia Convention Center
* Pro Tour format: Extended and Booster Draft with an Extended Top 8
* Qualifier Season: April 16 through July 31, Standard format

San Francisco, CA USA: November 17-20, 2011

* Location: Fort Mason Center
* 2011 World Championships formats: TBA

See you there!

The Two Planeswalkers have been given their own custom artwork as well, and you can view them below:

You can also check out the official deck list in all of its glory here.

With the introduction of the still relatively new card series came two new dynamics to the game. Mastery and Surge have both fundamentally altered the way in which rounds are fought. However, Surge isn’t nearly as over-powered as it was originally thought to be. There are a number of ways to combat it, and while one of these is to have one’s own set of surge-powered Shinobi, it’s not by far the only one.

The ‘arms race’ that might have occurred to gather up a large number of these cards has certainly been avoided. However, that’s also not to say that the Foretold Prophecy decks are in any way underpowered. After all, there are 178 cards in the series, and with so many cards, there is certainly a good mix.

In all of this discussion there’s one point that’s heavily missed: namely, the Naruto Shippuden Will of Fire starter decks. Generally sold at a lower price than the Foretold Prophecy decks, there are still 150 different cards when the dust settles. Therefore, it’s probably not too difficult to amass a few and trade up for specific cards.

Actually, trading is probably one of the best avenues for Shippuden players right now. There are certainly some interesting aspects of the trading market to be explored, since Naruto Shippuden doesn’t have the massive over saturation that the original game does. Therefore, some people might be more willing to part with a little more material to ensure that they get the card they need.

Jhoira’s ability allows you to suspend 4 any non-land card for 2 mana. Now, this on its own is already pretty awesome. This means you get to play Emrakul, the Aeons Torn on turn 8. With no mana accelaration.

Better yet, if you get the right cards, you can get both Emrakul and Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth on turn 8. Plus, they have haste. Goodbye ten permanents.

Even better, the suspend ability lets you cast the spell, allowing you to even get the Eldrazi’s special abilities.

With this in mind, I added something to spice it up a bit. Rift Elemental was the answer.

This awesome card is the second pillar that my deck stands on. For 2 mana, you can remove a time counter.

That means you can ramp up to the powerful creatures even faster.

Not good enough for you? Well, all right. Let’s add a Training Grounds.

One mana to suspend. One red mana to remove a time counter.

I’ll do the math for you. With the right opening hand, you can win by turn 5.

Turn 1 – Play an Island and Training Grounds.

Turn 2 – Play a Mountain and Rift Elemental.

Turn 3 – Play a Mountain and Jhoira of the Ghitu.

Turn 4 – Play a Mountain. Suspend Emrakul and Kozilek with Jhoira’s ability, using one blue and one red mana. Then remove a counter from each with Rift Elemental.

Turn 5 – Play a Mountain and remove 2 counters from each of your two suspended cards. Swing for the win.

Of course, your hand probably won’t work that well. Though, wouldn’t it be nice?

That’s all for now.

Umbreon. Umbreon mostly works as a back up for Leafeon.. With the attack Moonlight Fang Umbreon voids any attacks done to it by any Pokemon that have PokeBodies or PokePowers with a simple one darkness energy. All this while also doing 30 damge. This means that most all Sp decks will not be able to touch Umbreon, along with a large It seems to that 7 out of 10 times a player will use a Pokemon that has a Pokebody or Pokepower handful of non-sp decks. The only decks that come to mind that run Pokemon without Pokebodies or Pokepowers are Machamp, Jumpluff and Kingdra.

Vileplume. Vileplume according to Facebooks is everyone’s favorite Pokemon, so this is exciting news. What makes Vileplume so powerful is its Pokebody Allergy Flower. Allergy Flower voids any player from using any Trainers whether Vileplume is on the Bench or Active. With this the player can fully dominate the game by simply loading their deck with supporters while slowing the opponents deck to a halt. Just a few months ago everyone was going crazy over Spiritomb, now we have a card that not only stops trainers, but also provides many options such as using Bellosom or the alternate Vileplume. Vileplume’s Body and mobility make the card very viable.
I would mention the new Weavile, however, I am not sure whether the ability to take to take a card from the opponents hand on a evolve is game changing. Other than these Pokemon the Undaunted set offers interesting trainers such as Defender (same thing as Plus Power but for defense) along with the Legend Box. Can’t wait for the next set!!!

The idea behind these decks is pretty straightforward. They’re strong, standard decks with 60 cards and a 15 card sideboard. They also come included with a handy dandy spindown lifecounter and a strategy guide, too. They’ll be released February 25, 2011.

You can check out all of the details here.

One of my all-time favorite Yu-Gi-Oh cards is Maha Vailo.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with the card, here it is:

As a four star creature, Vailo’s 1550 attack is subpar.  However, that power can be enchanced by equipping it with an equip spell.  Not counting any boosts from the equipment, Maha Vailo gets 500 ATK per equip spell attached to him.

My first experiences with Maha Vailo involved equipping it with Axe of Despair and Fairy Meteor Crush.  Axe of Despair turned him into a 3050 monster and Fairy Meteor Crush allowed him to trample over defenders.

While this gimmick worked against basic players, a simple Raigeki, Tribute to the Doomed, or Dark Hole took out Maha Vailo very cleanly.

That’s the inherent problem with equip spells.  With few exceptions, having a creature destroyed while equipped means that you’re losing at least two cards from one spell an opponent plays.  It’s basically a high risk, high reward play.

Maha Vailo was one of the very first Yu-gi-oh cards to come out.  Times have changed since then and there have been better cards that have come out.  For example, Big Bang Shot has come out, providing a 400 ATK boost as well as providing the trample ability.

I want to highlight one card in particular.  What’s great about it is that it’s a 7-star synchro summon monster.  Since Maha Vailo is a 4-star monster, you can pair him up with any 3 star tuner monster to summon this creature.  The creature in question?  Check it out:

Power Tool Dragon has the ability to search out any equipment for your creatures.  However, it must be selected at random by your opponent out of two cards.  The easy way out of this is to let the opponent select from three copies of the same card.  Three Mage Powers.  Three Axes of Despair.  That way, you can guarantee you’re getting the card you want.

Besides the standard powerup equipment, an equip spell you can try with Power Tool Dragon is Armed Changer.  While it does require an equip spell to be discarded, it allows you to recover creature cards such as Maha Vailo with less ATK than the Armed Dragon.

To elaborate on this idea further, you can pair Armed Changer with Divine Sword Phoenix.  While the sword can enchant neither Dragon or Vailo, it can be brought back continously to your hand.  Just stick some warriors along with it and you’ve got yourself a deck.

Till next time,
BurningLandBrawler

Word on the street is that there will be a full set of these swords, and if that’s the case I can’t wait to see what other goodies will come from them. I’m sure each sword will be a combination of colors, providing protection and a nifty effect based on the color combination. Still a bit surprised that the card is only 3 mana though, given the effect.