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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,
Some very exciting news about the next Magic: The Gathering set, Return to Ravnica set to be released on 5 October, 2012. Forum user '1Drop' was able to find a treasure trove of Return to Ravnica spoilers on the mothersite which had been loaded but not yet hyperlinked to a front page. The content essentially provides additional story-line / flavour as well as a ton of Return to Ravnica art spoilers / previews. Expect a series of posts here at MTG Realm as we churn through the content - this post, a low-down on Guilds to be featured in 'Gatecrash'. On a personal note, we cannot recall being this excited in anticipation for a MTG set release. Anywhoos - let's have a looky-loo . . .
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Orzhov Syndicate
The Orzhov guild is founded on the beliefs that wealth is power, that structure breeds wealth, and that guilt creates structure. The guild is run like a combination religion, credit-lending agency, and crime syndicate. An ostentatious hierarchy of priests, enforcers, and ghostly councilors rules over a congregation of guilt-bound loyalists, indebted undead, and thrull servants. Many Orzhov guild members truly believe that their rule is necessary for making Ravnica the best it can be, and they are unscrupulous in their methods of seizing power. Most Ravnicans see the Orzhov for the corrupt organization they are, but many are lured in by their promises of wealth, prestige, and longevity.
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Izzet League
The Izzet are obsessive experimenters, the epitome of keen creative intellect combined with an unfortunately short attention span. The original mandate of the Izzet guild was to provide solutions for public works projects (sewers, boilers, roadways), but their experiments often produce mana geysers, spatial rifts, or arcane portals instead. As of late, their guildmaster, the dragon Niv-Mizzet, has driven the Izzet to delve deeper and deeper into more dangerous and experimental magic. The purpose of these experiments is unknown.
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Golgari Swarm
The Golgari guild is organized more like a single organism than a collective. It has a nucleus or nerve center that drives the direction and growth of the guild, elements that collect nutrients and convert them into usable resources, defenses that fight off foreign bodies, and an instinctual drive to survive, reproduce, and overcome.
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Boros Legion
The Boros Legion is the guild of righteous law and fierce justice. The most formidable military force on Ravnica, the Boros are efficient, self-assured, and zealous in the pursuit of their ideals. The Boros believe passionately in law; to them it is the structure by which society functions and the road map for the community’s health and safety. Anything that violates the letter of the law, threatens the spirit of the law, or obstructs the enforcement of the law is considered an enemy of the Boros Legion. In effect, anyone who disagrees with the Boros is an enemy of the Boros.
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Simic Combine
The Simic Combine is Ravnica’s steward of nature and the wild; its mission is to preserve and advance the natural world even as Ravnica’s cities continue to grow. The guild seeks to protect the elements of the plane that are incompatible or mutually exclusive with its overpopulated, urban conditions. This is not easy, of course, because the forces of civilization are so prevalent on Ravnica that they threaten to subsume anything that runs counter to them. But the Simic practice a strange combination of detachment and holism that provide a kind of separation from the larger urban systems—a separation on which their conservation mission depends.
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Lastly,
Ensure you drop by MTG Mint Card to get your pre-orders in for the soon to be released Izzet vs. Golgari which is rumoured to feature at least six new cards to be part of this fall's large set Return to Ravnica.
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