Theros Mechanics

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

First up - One of our sponsors here at MTG Realm is having a pretty damn nice MTG 'end of summer' clearance sale.  MTG Mint Card is bundling 2 bulk card lots, sleeves and dice for a really decent price, so drop on over and check it out.  

Second up - Over on the mothersite, WotC staffers put up a Theros Mechanics article and we suggest you give it a read.  We do have a quick 'n' dirty summary below and will definitely look forward to the standard FAQ Document which usually comes out just before the pre-release.  Anywhoos - here's the brief - 
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The slick new tech for Theros essentially is:
• Bestow
• Devotion
• Enchantments
• Heroic
• Monstrosity
• Scry 

Bestow - Some enchantment creatures feature the new keyword mechanic 'Bestow' which allows the player cast that card as an aura with enchant creature for its stated Bestow cost. The card then provides a bonus to that enchanted creature. If the creature that it enchants dies or is removed from the battlefield, the enchantment itself is then able to become a creature, typically with similar features as the abilities it provided while it was an aura. 

Devotion - Some players who had gmaed with the Eventide set, will remember the ability keyword 'Chroma' which is somewhat similar to the new Theros 'Devotion'.  Devotion requires the player to count of the number of specific colored mana symbols on cards and then provides a scaled effect based on this number. 

Enchantments - Theros has a strong enchantment theme with widespread use of the Enchantment type alongside other card types such as artifacts and creatures.  Enchantment creatures and enchantment artifacts in the Theros block all have a unique card frame that shows the starfield of Nyx, home to the realm of the gods.

Heroic - This keyword ability provides a beneficial effect each time you, but not your opponent casts a spell, such as an instant or sorcery which targets it.  Activated abilities, such as equip, do not cause heroic abilities to trigger.

Monstrosity - This new keyword mechanic found on creatures is an activated ability you can activate any time you can pay for it.  You can have a creature become monstrous by paying the mana cost, adding the stated number of +1/+1 counters on the creature which may also provide a triggered ability.

Scry - is a keyword action that allows a player to look at a certain number of cards at the top of his or her library at which time you may have some options.  For 'Scry 1', you're simply looking at the top card and deciding whether you want to replace it or put it on the bottom.  For 'Scry 2' or greater, you are able to order the given number of those cards back on top or at the bottom or split.
 
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Dragons Maze FAQ

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

A happy Monday indeed as Magic: the Gathering players now have the entire list of the latest card set, Dragon's Maze.  Today on the mothersite, the remaning cards were loaded up on the Dragon's Maze Visual Spoiler page.  All 156 Dragon's Maze cards have now also been posted on MTG Mint Card as well which means we can finalise our pre-orders.  We've already got our name on a list for the prerelease at OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario and we suggest you talk to your local games store for arrangements.  For today's post, we want to provide a summary of the Dragon's Maze (FAQ) Frequently Asked Questions document.  Drop by the mothersite for the full document.

Release Information
The Dragon's Maze set contains 156 cards (70 common, 40 uncommon, 35 rare, and 11 mythic rare). In lieu of a basic land card, each Dragon's Maze booster pack has a nonbasic land card, which can be one of the ten Dragon's Maze Guildgates, one of the ten Return to Ravnica or Gatecrash dual lands with basic land types, or the mythic rare Dragon's Maze card Maze's End.

Prerelease events: April 27–28, 2013
Launch Weekend: May 3–5, 2013
Game Day: May 25–26, 2013 

Reprinted cards - Guildgates, Feral Animist, Putrefy, Wind Drake.

Shocklands - All ten 'shocklands' from Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash are included within Dragon's Maze but are printed with thier original set symbol and are not considered reprints.

New Mechanic: Split Cards with Fuse
Split cards, featured prominently in the original Ravnica block, are back with a new twist: the fuse ability.  All split cards have two card faces on a single card. You can choose which half of the card you want to cast, pay that half's mana cost, and only that half will go on the stack. The characteristics of the half of the card you didn't cast are ignored while the spell is on the stack.  Fuse introduces a third option if you're casting a Dragon's Maze split card from your hand: cast the entire card as a single spell by paying both of its mana costs.

Returning Mechanics: Guild Keywords, Keyword Actions, and Ability Words
Return to Ravnica: detain (Azorius), overload (Izzet), unleash (Rakdos), scavenge (Golgari), and populate (Selesnya)
Gatecrash: extort (Orzhov), cipher (Dimir), bloodrush (Gruul), battalion (Boros), and evolve (Simic)

Cycle: Guildgates
The Dragon's Maze set includes a cycle of nonbasic lands with the subtype Gate. Each guild has a Gate card with Guildgate in its name that taps for mana of either of that guild's colors. These cards were previously printed in the Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash sets; they appear here with new art. 

Cycle: Gatekeepers
The Dragon's Maze set includes a cycle of Gatekeepers with enters-the-battlefield abilities that give you a bonus for controlling two or more Gates.

Cycle: Cluestones
There are one of these common artifacts for each Guild with a casting cost of 3.  They tap for either of that guild's mana or pay one of each guild mana and sacrifice to draw a card.

Cycle: Guild Champions
There are ten of these rare legendary creatures, one for each Guild.  They are Emmara Tandris (Selesnya), Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch (Rakdos), Lavinia of the Tenth (Azorious), Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker (Dimir), Melek, Izzet Paragon (Izzet), Ruric-Thar, The Unbowed (Gruul), Tajic, Blade of the Legion(Boros), Teysa, Envy of Ghosts (Orzhov), Varolz, the Scar-Striped (Golgari), and Vorel of the Hull Clade (Simic).

Cycle: Uncommon Fuse Spells
There are ten of these split cards featuring the new fuse mechanic which feature a different monocolour spell on each side. These are Protect/Serve (Azorius), Far/Away (Dimir), Toil/Trouble (Rakdos), Armed/Dangerous (Gruul), Alive/Well (Selesnya), Profit/Loss (Orzhov), Down/Dirty (Golgari), Give/Take (Simic), Turn/Burn (Izzet) and Wear/Tear (Boros).

Cycle: Rare Fuse Spells
There are five of these split cards featuring the new fuse mechanic which feature a different multi-colour spell on each side.  These are  Beck/Call (Simic/Azorius), Breaking/Entering (Dimir/Rakdos), Flesh/Blood (Golgari/Gruul), Catch/Release (Izzet/Boros), and Ready/Willing (Selesnya/Orzhov).
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Return to Ravnica Mechanics

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Following up on our two previous posts, PAX Ravnica Party and the Return to Ravnica Spoiler List, we think we now have all the Return to Ravnica keywords / mechanics for a proper post to publish.  Let's go . . .

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Return to Ravnica revisits five of the ten Ravnica block bi-colored guilds, each of which with its own keyword or ability word that is similar but not identical to the original one.

Azorius Senate         blue / white    
Golgari Swarm         black / green   
Izzet League         blue / red   
Cult of Rakdos         black / red   
Selesnya Conclave     green / white   

• Multicolored: Gold and Hybrid

 These cards require mana from two or more different colors to be played. Multicolored cards tend to combine the philosophy and mechanics of all the colors used in the spell's cost.  Hybrid mana (also known as half-half mana) is a type of mana first introduced in Ravnica: City of Guilds and featured throughout the Ravnica and Shadowmoor blocks. Each hybrid mana symbol represents a cost which can be paid with one of two colors. The hybrid mana symbol can be of any combination of two colors, or any color of mana and two generic mana.

• Detain (Azorius Senate)
When you detain an opposing permanent, until your next turn, that permanent's activated abilities can't be activated and (if it's a creature) it can't attack or block. 
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• Overload (Izzet League)
Overload provides an alternate and more expensive mana cost for a card which can be used when casting it, and upon doing it increases the whole effect of the card.
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• Unleash (Cult of Rakdos)
One may choose to have a creature with unleash enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter it. As long as it has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, it can't block—no matter how it got +1/+1 counters.
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• Scavenge (Golgari Swarm)
The reminder text for Scavenge reads 'Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a sorcery.'  You can activate the scavenge ability of a creature card in your graveyard any time you could cast a sorcery by exiling it and paying its scavenge cost.
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• Populate (Selesnya Conclave)
The reminder text for populate is 'Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of a creature token you control'.  Populate doesn't target anything, and you don't have to choose a token to copy until you're actually populating.
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• Gates
Gold cards can put a strain on your mana, so Return to Ravnica features common "dual lands" - lands that can tap for either of two different colors of mana - called Gates.  
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