And so it begins again...the first Planeshift mechanic rumors!

[Mikeymike]

GATING
Will have some nice uses. Someone goes to Shock your critter. You do a Gate spell with some effect to bounce the creature back to hand. So with one card you
A) use an effect (disenchant, counter, etc.)
B) save a creature (or some other permanent) simultaneously allowing your opponent to waste a card.
C) reduce the cost of a spell

Granted, this is situational but versatile cards always see play (except for some of the bad kicker cards)

FAMILIARS
I agree with Ura on these guys, you're probably looking at 3CC 1/1s (with dual color CC's like Cateran Emperor showed). However, they make Gold cards extremely powerful. Undermine now costs either UU or UB. Plus, multiples of these guys are powerful. Who the hell would want to play 2 Alabaster Leeches let alone 1.

 

[Ristik]

Madprops to Hemeti for his whole "Pandemonium" thing.

 

[Hetemti]

...I was just thinking about my Viashino Panda/Furnace of Death deck. Rath's SuperRed + Urza's Crazy Critters (Cutthroat rules!)=Game ends soon. Doesn't mean I win...but the game ends soon. And usually I do win.
_____
"Ball, Lust, Panda, Furnace x2. Eighty sound good?"

 

[Mikeymike]

I have a nasty Pandashino deck too, mine is R/W. I'd love to see your deck list if that's cool, I'll show you mine (NOT THAT, jeez you're disgusting) .

 

[Hetemti]

Viashino/Panda/Furnace
The Viashinos are fun, but any critter is nasty once any of the power enchantments is out. This deck causes more opponents to say "I woulda won next turn!" than any other.

22 Mountain
2 Pandemonium
3 Furnace of Rath (Cost=$0.30 )
4 Earthquake
2 Mana Flare
3 Incenerate
4 Bolt
4 Viashino Cutthroat
4 Blood Lust
4 Mogg Fanatic
2 Dragon Whelp
2 Keldon Champion
1 Ball Lightning
1 Thundermare
1 Avatar of Fury
1 Fling

-=-=-WARNING: EXCESSIVE INFORMATION LOOMS AHEAD-=-=-
R/W you say? I LOVE Red/White!
R/W was the first deck I built with a focus...eat R/B for lunch, since that was the only deck my friend was playing at the time. Mask Of Law and Grace on Wall of Glare plus three Sanctimonies put a stop to the Looming Shades and Molten Hydras.
It's also the oldest deck I have, although the only card that's been in there since it's first incarnation is the foil Cutthroat. It's been rebuilt countless times, and even terminated twice, ie, torn apart and resorted into my card box, supposedly never to see the light of day again...
Anyway, here's my current deck, I say current because it still changes every few days...

4 Plateau (Cost=$40 )
7 Plains
11 Mountain
1 Sol Ring
2 Felwar Stone
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
2 Soltari Visionary
2 Pacifisim (GODLIKE card in this deck!)
2 Incinerate
4 Bolt (Thought about 4 Incen, 2 Blot, mostly due to a local infestation of Silverbacks, but mana cost rules over us all.)
2 Belbe's Armor (I love versitility. Oh, and the art's by DAG)
2 Bone Mask (Saved my bacon the first time I tried it. So I got a second. Oh, and the art's by DAG )
4 Viashino Cutthroat (Love'm dem lizards.)
4 Mother of Runes (Mamma said to knock you out!)
2 Arc Mage (When the deck stalls on mana, a little extra burn is some good.)
4 Savana Lions (Best one drop in both White and Red)
-=and of course=-
2 Covetous Dragon
2 Shivan Dragon
3 Two-Headed Dragon (Bought a Merc Starter from DAG for $4...found one inside. )

-Sideboard, ie, cards I had but removed-
2 Intrepid Hero (ie, The Guy With the Pointy Stick. Mulches green decks.)
2 Cursed Scroll (DAG! One's signed, the other, double signed. The deck doesn't drop it's hand as fast as it used to, so the Scrolls were dead weight.
3 Plains (White became less necessary after I removed the...)
2 Serra Angels (...in favor of the Covetous Dragons.)
2 Disenchant (Why do I hate these things? Oh, yeah, the only time I draw them is when there are no enchantments out...)
3 Sanctum Custodians (Before the Savana Kittens, these were by main enemy annoyänce.)
3 Shock (Burn, baby, burn...disco inferno...)

You may note the fact that there are no Sandstalkers...I got six of those suckers and never prefered the lower cost over the +1/+1 the Cutthroats give.

 

[Spiderman]

Remember, it's an alternate casting cost, still restricted to the Spell type (enchantment, sorcery, creature, whatever). If it's not a fast effect you're not going to be able to use it.

I'm just mentioning it because it seems that's where the discussion is heading... that all gating effects can be played anytime.

 

[Volradon]

I think alot of people think that using gating makes the spell free. Read the thing "reduce mana cost" That means that there will still be very few free spell, that is if WOTC learned their leson.

 

[Ristik]

Hey, what's wrong with "free" spells? Just because my deck includes... fifteen of them doesn't mean they're powerful...

 

[Azreal the Soulmaster]

really those free spells sucked if they were countered then where would you be, no spell and its overpriced for that reason, oh look no lands
although that is really just a slight set back

 

[Deadman]

I think that it would be cool if their were creatures with abilities like:
Whenever 'this' is attacking, reduce the casting cost of you're red instants by 1.
Perhaps the ACC's may be like:
As an alternetive cating cost, you may return an enchantent of converted mana cost 3 or more to you're hand.
Just idea's, but how they will actually work can only be truly determined when WotC confirms something.