Eternal Bargain

~
Happy Wednesday MTG peeps, 

We have for you today part two of five separate articles we are doing on the new Commander 2013 decks just recently released by WotC to a very welcoming Magic: the Gathering fan base.  Each of these new Commander pre-constructed decks provides a ready to play stack of 100 cards including a choice of three legendary creatures to act as your general which may be also represented by an oversized foil card.  The card list is a solid foundation which you can easily adjust to taste - we'll likely throw a few of our nostalgic favourites we've picked up from MTG Mint Card into the original mix. 

The is the overview / review for Commander 2013's 'Evasive Maneuvers' deck and we've prepared a video with our good friend Jon from 'Command Tower' on Tumblr.  

~

This Esper deck (white/ blue / black) has the following Commanders to choose from:

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
This legendary Giant Soldier costing six mana (3 colorless and an 'esper' gives you a 4/5 body on the field and has a lifegain theme in each of the cards three abilities.  Ability one nets you two life, while the second one allows you to pay one coloress whenever you gain life to chip one life off your opponent.  To ensure the life train keeps going, you also add another two onto your total even if Oloro is in your command zone.
~

Sydri, Galvanic Genius
This Human Artificer costs three (one 'esper') and provides a 2/2 onto the battlefield.  Both activated abilities are all about artifacts.  For one blue mana, you can turn a target noncreature artifact into an artifact with p/t equal to the cmc.  The second ability allows you to pay a white and black to give a target artifact lifelink / deathtouch until end of turn.
~

Sharuum, the Hegemon
Here is the reprint - for six mana (three colorless and an 'esper') you get a 5/5 flying artifact Sphinx creature.  The enter the battlefield effect has the ability to return an artifact card from the 'yard back onto the battlefield, which can get really crazy if you develop a strategy to cheat huge fatties or other high costed artifacts onto the field.
~
This is certainly not an 'all in' artifact deck and frankly the list developed by WotC is not meant to be that but rather yet another robust list able to adapt to the game situation and happens to have an artifact theme.  Having just said that, we are keen to develop a major artifact theme with this deck at it's base - we would want to consider both Tezzeret the Seeker and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in this mix along with similarily themed card choices.  One concern we have is that should you play Oloro in multiplayer, you could get hated on simply because of his lifegain potential.  
~

Theros Holiday Gift Box

~
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

~
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.

~
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.

~

Magic 2014 Intro Pack

~
Happy Monday MTG peeps,

For today's post, we wanted to get along to a review of a Magic 2014 Intro Pack.  These preconstructed theme decks are possibly the best way to get into Magic: the Gathering if you are new to the game, or if your more seasoned, a lot of players we know battle each other with Intro Packs which makes for a lot a fun as Wizards of the Coast makes all efforts to attempt to balance the power of these decks.

MTG Realm grabbed a new Magic: the Gathering Magic 2014 core set Intro Pack and a handful of M14 booster packs for this brief unboxing and review.


~
For a MRSP of only $15, here's what you get -

• Premium foil card
• A full 60 card deck
• Two M14 booster packs
• Learn to play insert
• Strategy guide

We got the M14 'Lightforce' Intro Pack (white / green just happen to our fav colours) - Here's some descriptive text off the box -

Wield the power of light, booster your creatures with powerful enchantments.  If your opponents don't crumble under the first wave of your assault, they'll be primed for defeat when your larger beasts hit the battlefield.

With enchantments being hinted as being a thingy in 'Theros', the next set  this fall, we're certain to be well prepared to modify and take this Intro Pack to the next level.
 

~

M14 Fav Non-Rares

~
Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

For today's post, we wanted to yatter a bit about our favourite non-rare cards from the latest Magic: the Gathering set, Magic 2014.  If you are new to this great game, here's the low-down - Each year, Wizards of the Coast publishes a Core Set. There is a blend of new cards as well as a few returning favorites.  For players who love to brew up new ideas and strategies, this may very well be the best time of year as it contains the largest set of cards with which to build until the fall rotation.

As is our custom here at MTG Realm, we've picked up from MTG Mint Card, a 4x Uncommon and Common set.  As there is 101 commons and 60 uncommons, that's a grand total of 644 cards - and for just $42.99 - not to shabby!  Here's our video run down of our play group's Top Five favorite M14 commons and uncommons (weighted for constructed play).  Mind you, this may not reflect one could expect to see these in a decklist at a professional level tournament - these are just what we liked at our kitchen table.  
~
~

Favorite Uncommons
#5 - Sentinel Sliver
#4 - Striking Sliver
#3 - Predatory Sliver
#2 - Elvish Mystic
#1 - Shadowborn Apostle

Favourite Commons
#5 - Doom Blade
#4 - Kalonian Tusker
#3 - Panisher Preist
#2 - Manaweft Sliver
#1 - Young Pyromancer
~
We had a tough time to reach a consensus with these lists - the only two 'shoo - ins' were Elvish Mystic and Young Pyromancer.  Oddly enough when the dust settled, we were surprised how many Slivers made it onto the list - odd we say as only one out of the four of us here at MTG Realm is even thinking about building a Sliver deck.
~

M14 Favs

~
Happy Saturday MTG peeps,

We are finally at last out of the wilds of northern Ontario which is a complete and utter WiFi desert - or at least where we were.  We were harassed by raccoons, saw a bear, and played a lot of Magic: the Gathering - analog that is - the old fashioned way.

Anywhoos - we were rather sore about missing both the PreRelease and FNM launch of Magic 2014 but we are now back with a bang.  We have our MTG Mint Card pre-orders rapidly winging it's way to us, picked up some extra Ultra PRO sleeves and boxes and are now ready to fully absorb the new set.  To catch up, we dropped by our fav card shop, OMG! Games here in central Ontario, Canada-Land and yattered co-owner Señor Ricardo about notable new cards in the set - Let's have a looky-loo at the vid now -
~
 
~
Here's the short list of some of our new fav cards :

 







• Archangel of Thune
This essentially makes all your critters an Ajani Pridemate

• Kalonian Hydra
No fertilizer needed - this monster grows to an incredible size.

 













• Garruk, Caller of Beasts
Could be a star in a creature-based EDH / Commander build.

• Chandra Pyromaster
Almost certainly to be played by red mages in multiple formats - who doesn't like card draw in RDW?

 







 





• Sanguine Bond

Old fan favorite - you gain, they loose.
 
• Congregate
Sooo nostalgic - Loved it in Urza's Saga, love it now.  
~