Because It Is Easier To Be Lazy

What an odd title for actually writing something this week. As most of us are well aware, I am a pretty lazy human. But seeing as how it is 9:15am and there have been no posts on this lost and lonely blog. I feel like it falls upon myself to write something. Conveniently there is a topic readily at hand. The Shadowmoor Prerelease is a short 72 hours away. Unfourtantly for CBG's sake I will not be discussing any non officially previewed cards. If you are curious you can all the latest unofficial spoiler information at MTGSalvation.com located here

Which leads to an interesting problem. While I am sure some of you will be attending I don't really know what to write about in the way of a Primer. If this was for a site such as SCG or WOTC it would be an easy thing to write. I could just assume that you are all idiots and have no idea how to play this game. Despite CBG's opinion of himself, I know this not to be true. I consider you all to be good players. So I am just going to start typing and see where I end up. Because covering the obvious stuff like play 16-17 lands, don't stretch your mana to far color wise, blah, blah, blah seems pretty boring to write.

Drafting this set seems like it is going to be a chore. 33 of the 61 cards previewed so far have hybrid mana symbols. Good luck signaling. On the plus side is seems like there is going to be almost no emphasis on creature type. So at least you don't have to worry about trying to figure out what colors you are in addition to trying to figure out what colors you are suppost to be.

I am highly intrigued by the new keyword Persist. It reads "When this creature is put into a graveyard form play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.) I think that it is going to be a highly useful ability in constructed Magic.

Kitchen Finks is has my early vote for best creature in the set (and this is with taking the unofficially spoiled cards into account).

Kitchen Finks 1 W/G W/G

Ophue Uncommon

When Kitchen Finks comes into play, you gain 2 life.

Persist

3/2

And he is a fucking Ouphe for Zombie Jesus sake. He is going to be good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Goyf, Bob, Tog, Superman, Big Dumb Stupid Elephant (tm), Baloth. He is going to define Type 2 and Extended for the next couple of years. And I would not be surprised to find him being played in Legacy either. Pick this guy up before he becomes a $5+ uncommon. And he is a fucking Ophue for William Shatners sake!

As a quick aside. How did the nick name for Hierarch get longer? I thought nicknames were suppost to be shorter.

Twilight Shepherd 3WWW

Angel Rare

Flying, vigilance

When Twilight Shepherd comes into play return to your hand all cards in your graveyard put there from play this turn.

Persist

5/5

Right now this card is getting a ton of hype. My advice? Avoid it for now. While the body to casting cost ratio is there. And flying, vigilance, and persist are a lot of relevant keyword abilites. It's comes into play ability is highly overrated. Don't get me worng. It's a fine ability, and the card is definitely better for having it. The ability is kind of awkward to have on a six mana card. Six mana is a lot of mana in constructed. If this card had flash instead of vigilance it would be insane. But this card is pretty easy to play around.

In draft and especially sealed it worries me. Sealed isn't know for being a fast format. It is typically defined by ground stalls and bombs. Persist creatures seem like they are going to be big time bombs. They have built in recursion and pretty much trump any creature that has a toughness = to there power. I see it being very hard to lose if you get lucky and open a bomb or two and a bunch of creatures with Persist. You should easily be able to stall out the game long enough to draw into your bombs and finish the game. Or worst case, just settle in for a long attrition war aggressively trading creatures knowing yours will get a second life and theres won't.

The new untap symbol. While cute. I wasn't really that shocked to see it. It was a long time coming. If truth be told I am a little sad they actually went ahead with printing this ability. It was just so obvious as a potential thing to do. It makes me lean a touch towards the WOTC is running out of ideas for Magic argument. That aside. The only card spoiled so far that excites me is:

Order of Whiteclay 1WW

Kithkin Cleric Rare

1WWQ: Return target creature card with a converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard to play.

For the record Q is the official designation in all rules documents for the untap symbol.

For starters the mana to power/toughness ratio is good enough. Not great but solid. The ability is the intruding part. I'm not sure about the best way to go about it. But the ability is just asking to be abused. This is assuming there is a good way to tap him every turn aside from turning him sideways. As I am sure your opponent would happily put his Goyf in front of him.

Inkfathom Infiltrator gets a nod because I am infatuated with that art. I want a foily one just so I can stare at it. Awkward... Firefox's spell checker doesn't recognize foily as a word...

Scarecrow is by far the coolest creature type to be featured prominently in a long time. Here is hoping Straw Golem is in the next set.

Optional Hybrid mana... not sure what it is actually called. The 2/G mana thing a ma jig. It's cute. But I am not sure how I feel about it. It kind of takes the color pie and says "Fuck you sideways with a splintery broom while watching Chris Crocker videos."

Burn Trail 3R

Sorcery Common

Burn Trail deals 3 damage to target creature or player.

Conspire (As you play this spell,, you may tap two untapped creatures you control that scare a color with it. When you do, copy it and you may choose a new target for the copy).

Personally in limited Burn Trail is going to be a house. I'm not really sure about any non removal spell though. While I think conspire is a really cool idea and very flavorful. I think it has to many things going against it. You have to have two untapped creatures AND they have to share a color. In constructed two creatures can be a lot to ask for. In limited two creatures of the same color can be a lot to ask for sometimes. Anything that is a non removal sorcery spell will almost never be Conspired unless you are already way ahead on the board. And at that point do you really need to be Conspiring spells? In most cases I would imagine it would be more effective to just bash face. I also don't think there will be a lot of instants with Conspire (No, I haven't actually checked the spoiler to see yet.). It just seems very out of flavor for the mechanic.

As I am saying that I have to mention:

Aethertow 3W/U

Instant Common

Put target attacking or blocking creature on top of its owner's library.

Conspire

This is a common Wing Shards. It WILL be the best common in the set. First pick it every time you see it. When playing always be wary of it. It will crush your hopes and dreams. It will make you cry more than when you were dropped on your head as a child.

Wither is another mechanic I am not surprised to see. Having this and untapping in the same set definitely makes me scratch my head and wondering how much WOTC has in the tank. It's just soooooo lazy. Combine this with what they have been doing with tournaments lately and my faith is officially shaken.

HA! I'm proud of myself. I just worked back to the title and didn't even realize it until after I did it. This is how Chuck Norris must feel after he gets done beating up Superman.

But back to Wither. I'm pretty indifferent overall on this mechanic. It doesn't have any real wow factor. I pretty much think it is just going to be annoying having to use 400 counters per game of limited Magic. Although if you draft a bunch of these guys it is probably going to get pretty disgusting good pretty quick.

Murderous Redcap 2 B/R B/R

Goblin Assassin Uncommon

When Murderous Redcap comes into play, it deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player.

Persist

Yup, I'm starting to jump around that can't be a good sign. But with all due respect to Dan Paskins. That is who previewed this card right? I could easily be remembering wrong. When is the last time a 4 mana 2/2 saw constructed play?

Oona, Queen of the Fae 3 U/B U/B U/B

Legend - Faerie Wizard Rare

Flying

X U/B: Chose a color. Target opponent removes the top X cards of his or her library from the game. For each card of the chosen color removed this way, put a 1/1 blue and black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying into play.

5/5

Meloku reincarnate. Nuff said.

Well that pretty much covers it for me... This is already incredibly long. And while I am sure you all want to hear me rant and rave about Midget Donkey Shows and what they mean to the future of Magic, it will have to wait for another day. Have fun and good luck at the Prerelease. May you not get blown up by a Common combat trick or forget about the Q ability. Most of all though. Have fun. I will be attending the Madison Prerelease Sunday... although it has nothing to do with Shadowmoor.

Also as a quick aside. If anyone every wants to write something specific or just rant and rave like a lunatic, shoot me an email at treebringer@gmail.com. Being Magic player I have no qualms with ranting on and on about my very bias opinions. This is also me taking the lazy approach of having to think of something to type about.