Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,
As you know, someone in South Dakota got their paws on some Gatecrash cards - Magic the Gathering cards not to be released for some time. They then posted them for sale early Saturday morning. We followed the discussions in forums all weekend long and then decided to post only after StarCity Games posted said cards for sale. The gneral consensus is that these are real and not clever fakes but as always, we remind you to refer to the Wizards of the Coast website for official previews. Anywhoos, We had really only posted the story but nothing in the way of a review in Monday's article, which we'll give a run down right now.
First - To give a sense of the community and retailers initial assessment, here's the average pre-order price posted for each Gatecrash card (guildgate cards excepted) :
Aurelia ~ $15
Borborygmos ~ $8
Domri Rade ~ $25
Enter the Infinite ~ $4
Hellkite Tyrant ~ $3
Dual Land ~ $10 to $15
Aurelia, the Warleader, 2rrwwLegendary Creature - Angel, Mythic Rare
Flying, vigilance, haste
Whenever Aurelia, the Warleader attacks for the first time each turn, untap all creatures you control. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
3/4
Boros players are certainly salivating here. For six mana this could win games handily in both limited and constructed. Remember Finest Hour from Alara Reborn - that was great for the same reasons that Aurelia is great - never underestimate an extra combat step. We definitely want to build with this, and will likely pick up from MTG Mint Card a set of those Gatecrash Boros shocklands, Sacred Foundry.
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Borborygmos Enraged, 4rrggLegendary Creature - Cyclops, Mythic Rare
Trample
Whenever Borborygmous Enraged deals combat damage to a player, reveal the top three cards of your library. Put all land cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Discard a land card: Borborygmos Enraged deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
7/6
Most decidedly a mythic rare card. We are loving the abilities and the flavor here. We think a lot of players may consider this for a General in their EDH / Commander games and as for standard, we would not want to be looking at the business end of this Cyclops. There's some mulch, some Seismic Assault, and a whole lot of butt-kicking going on here. Some enterprising gamers may be pairing this with Unburial Rites to cheat fatties in the yard onto the battlefield.
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Domri Rade, 1rgPlaneswalker - Domri, Mythic Rare
b: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.
-2: Target creature you control fights another target creature.
-7: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have double strike, trample, hexproof and haste."
3
Yes, we know, the PW art does not break the border but Nissa did not either. Assuming its real, a 3-loyalty Planeswalker for 3 mana deserves our attention. The first plus ability forces you to place this in a creature heavy deck, but does give you the ability to get additional cards in your hand, which is almost never a bad thing. The second (negative) fight ability on the second is decent tech for spot removal provided you have a fatty on the game table. The third (negative) ability providing that emblem is just over the top and we think appropriately not available until at least turn ten. Going ultimate with Domri is not likely.
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Enter the Infinite, 8uuuuSorcery, Mythic Rare
Draw cards equal to the number of cards in your library, then put a card from your hand on top of your library. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn.
Wicked Terese Nielsen art on this very mana-expensive sorcery. So what do you get for 12 mana? Most likely a game won if you are careful. There is of course a chance you will fail miserably having essentially just milled yourself but with cards like Omniscience, you will likely come out on top. We would probally cry if we pulled this in a pack.
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Hellkite Tyrant, 4rrCreature - Dragon, Mythic Rare
Flying, trample
Whenever Hellkite Tyrant deals combat damage to a player, gain control of all artifacts that player controls.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control twenty or more artifacts, you win the game.
6/5
We here are certainly fans of any cards with alternate win conditions. Six mana still delivers a solid flyer with trample but the other abilities really are not that relevant in standard constructed and would only shine in very few instances perhaps like a sideboard against Modern Affinity type strategies.
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