Theros Holiday Gift Box

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We'll be heading out to OMG! Games latter on tonight to play in the Friday Night Magic event but wanted to swing by today during lunch break to pick up the 2013 Theros Holiday Gift Box on the chance it may sell out latter today.  Apparently we did have nothing to fear as the store ordered a good number.  While at the store there happened to be a few other players there also on a lunch break to grab some singles ahead of the event tonight and not there to pick up the Holiday Gift Box.  After a discussion of what they would pay for four booster packs of Theros (it's about $5 here in Central Ontario), they realised that given the price tag on the Holiday Gift Box (priced at $19.99 at OMG! Games), it was essentially a no-brainer.

Anywhoos - let's have a looky-loo in the box now !

Contents:

• A storage box that can hold more than 2,000 cards

• Six illustrated plastic dividers

• A sticker sheet for customizing the dividers

• Four Theros booster packs

• An alternative-art Karametra's Acolyte from the Theros set

• 20-card Theros basic land pack

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Release Date: November 15, 2013 for an MSRP: $19.99

Enchant the Magic™ player in your life with the Magic: The Gathering® Holiday Gift Box, containing four booster packs from the Theros™ expansion, 20 basic land cards, and a premium card featuring an illustration unique to this gift box.

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Notes :

• Peel 'n' stick sticker are great.

• The box art is nice but not as epic as last year's Return to Ravnica box art.

• The Dan Scott art for alt-art foil Karametra's Acolyte is stunningly beautiful but we have wishes for a more popular standard-format card.  Last year's foiling on Dreg Mangler was a bit weird 'n' flat.

• The art for the six card dividers are simply gorgeous.  The divider thickness seems a bit thinner from last year.

• Card storage box appears robust and on the same quality as the previous year's box.

•  Our four booster packs did not net us anything epic : Temple of Silence / Nighthowler / Artisans of Forms / Labyrinth Champion.  We did finally get a token that we've been looking for which is cool.

•  All in all a very solid purchase and of great use to just about every Magic: the Gathering player we can think of.

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Commander 2013 Decklists

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

We had mentioned here in our previous post to MTG Realm that the Commander 2013 previews may drag over to next week.  Well, we were wrong.  We now have the full list previewed over on the mothership today with set release notes and a range of related articles expected next week.  The Commander 2013 gallery is here, with the five decklists over here.

Before we get any further into Commander 2013, we have to yatter about what is likely on most Magic: the Gathering player's minds - the Theros Game Day event this weekend.  We'll be heading this weekend over to OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario (near Georgian College).  They will be having events on both Saturday and Sunday October 19th / 20th.

Registration opens at 11:30 AM with gaming underway at 12:30. Bring along your standard constructed deck and $6 and you will have the chance of winning a foil full art Nighthowler and an exclusive Game Day Champion playmat.  All participants will receive the full art Phalanx Leader promo card just for attending.

There will be of course the special side event called 'Face The Hydra' which you would likely have heard about already.  All day long at OMG! Games, you and your friends can play against the hydra deck with your standard deck and up to two hero cards earned in the pre-release and release weekend events. This is designed to be played with 1-3 players players and receive the next hero on the Path to Heros.  For players that don't have a standard deck the Theros Event deck, called 'Inspiring Heroics' will be available for only $24.99 - we'll see you out there!

Righto - back to Commander 2013!  All 51 new cards have now been revealed as well as the final decklists of each of the five Commander 2013 builds.  We will most definitely be talking more about EDH / Commander next week but for now, we are admiring the 25 to 30 awesome new card arts on the reprints.  Anywhoos - here's the quick run-down of all the new cards -

 

 

 

White (8) : Act of Authority, Angel of Finality, Curse of the Forsaken, Darksteel Mutation, Mystic Barrier, Serene Master, Tempt with Glory, Unexpectedly Absent

Blue (8) : Curse of Inertia, Diviner Spirit, Djinn of Infinite Deceits, Illusionist's Gambit, Order of Succession, Tempt with Reflections, Tidal Force, True-Name Nemesis

Black (8) : Baleful Force, Curse of Shallow Graves, Fell Shepherd, Hooded Horror, Ophiomancer, Price of Knowledge, Tempt with Immortality, Toxic Deluge

Red (7) : Curse of Chaos, From the Ashes, Sudden Demise, Tempt with Vengeance, Terra Ravager, Widespread Panic, Witch Hunt

Green (7) : Bane of Progress, Curse of Predation, Naya Soulbeast, Primal Vigor, Restore, Spawning Grounds, Tempt with Discovery

Multicolor (10) : Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Gahiji, Honored One, Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, Marath, Will of the Wild, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Roon of the Hidden Realm, Shattergang Brothers, Sydri, Galvanic Genius

Artifact (2) : Eye of Doom, Surveyor's Scope

Land (1) : Opal Palace
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