Shards of Alara Previews

Shabbaman

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Enemy color planeswalkers... We already saw an allied color planeswalker. So we could conclude all color pairs get a planewalker? Hmpf. This one is an armageddon on a stick. Activating it seems hard though.
 
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Modus Pwnens

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It's not too powerful, which sort of proves wizards point that they won't be printing tournament quality cards at mythic rarity, which is a good thing.
Still, it seems like a fun card, although my inner Johnny can't really think of something to (ab)use this card..
 
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BigBlue

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Out of the gate, you can use him to do a Drain Life for 3... And he only costs 4...

I have never played with Planeswalkers... I know the abilities are only playable once a turn... Are there other cards which build loyalty quicker than the abilities?

Next Build-a-Deck we should base them on Planeswalkers.
 
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EricBess

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Modus Pwnens said:
It's not too powerful, which sort of proves wizards point that they won't be printing tournament quality cards at mythic rarity, which is a good thing.
Still, it seems like a fun card, although my inner Johnny can't really think of something to (ab)use this card..
It proves that wizards will print non-tournament quality cards at mythic rarity. It does not prove that they won't be printing tournament quality cards at mythic rarity. Personally, I have always contested that their best strategy is to have the two to three most sought-after cards at mythic and the rest of the mytics be mediocre.

Yeah, I didn't see any synergy at all with the ability. Maybe once the rest of the set is out, there will be a theme of some sort, but I'm not getting it...
 

Shabbaman

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Well, this planeswalker might not be a staple... unless RW is the color combination of "the deck to beat" in Alara. It's not easy to predict what planeswalkers are bombs. If only one of this cycle is in a tier 1 deck, that card would be really pricey.

If you need the "new Garruk", everyone wants that card. No one will play with the "new overrun". For me it's a challenge to play without cards I don't have (or rather, don't want to buy): building with constraints like that is what "casual" is to me.

There's synergy between the first and third ability: lock down their land, then blow them all up. If they drop and tap a land, lock it down. Terrible. Samite alchemist/shackles (does make me think of winter orb)+armageddon on a stick. The second ability is lightning helix (duh). The pattern I see: an ability from either color plus an ability from a gold card.

Anyone care to speculate? My interest goes to black/green.

The cheap + ability: Duress would be my black pick, but that's already on Liliana Vess. Edict? For green I'd go with a land search effect, but that's not really green/black (but neither is duress or edict...). Regrowth is though, but that's too strong for the first ability.

Regrowth/genesis would be perfect for the second ability though, but not if that's the gold slot. Multiregrowth (return all...) would fit, but that's not very powerful. Putrefy fits in that slot. Drain the well as well. Consume strength.

For the powerful third slot I'd go with Living death, but again, already taken bij Miss Vess. So, Deed? That's what B/G is for most people.

You know, the one card that's almost a B/G planeswalker is Sisters of the Stone death. Reword it that it affects "target creature" and "creatures you control" and we have a winner.
 

Shabbaman

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Wizards keeps an official visual spoiler these days, not only with the cards they preview themselves, but also with cards they let all kinds of magazines preview. These cards would end up on unofficial spoilers (like those on mtgsalvation.com) anyway. From what I see getting spoiled at CPA not everyone likes the unofficial spoilers, but this very official spoiler has some nice cards on it. It doesn't hurt to take a look ;)

It has an epic rare monoblue planeswalker. Abilites? Sure: voltaic key, tinker (or rather fabricate) and march of the machines. It surely looks like a high value card to me, and being epic, Wizards already breaks their word with the first set they put epic in.

On the plus side, it has an uncommon that makes me happy as well: a 2/3 you can play for free if you have a Savannah in play. No more Lackey problems...
 
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EricBess

Guest
Shabbaman said:
It has an epic rare monoblue planeswalker. Abilites? Sure: voltaic key, tinker (or rather fabricate) and march of the machines. It surely looks like a high value card to me, and being epic, Wizards already breaks their word with the first set they put epic in.
Wizards didn't break their word. All they promised was that not all tournament-playable cards will be mystic rares and not all mystic rares would be tournament playable. It would be foolish to think that there wouldn't be one or two chase mystics...
 
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mythosx

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How come the new Keyword isn't errantry? I remember an old enchantment that had a similar function to this called errantry.
 
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