PW Guide to Gatecrash

~
Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Over on the mothersite today, Magic: the Gathering fans were treated to another installment of the Planeswalker's Guide to Gatecrash.  The brilliant minds on the Wizards of the Coast's Creative Team are adept are world-building and weaving intricate story lines.  Today's article 'Planeswalker's Guide to Gatecrash: Part 2' provides updates to the stories of Orzhov, Simic and Gruul guilds from Ravnica and adds a wonderful layer of flavour to the game.  Look for some new, not seen before art previews which will likely see card print in the upcoming Gatecrash set in this, the Return to Ravnica block. 

Check out previous installements by the Creative crew here:
• Planeswalker's Guide to Gatecrash: Part 2 
• Planeswalker's Guide to Gatecrash: Part 1
• Planeswalker's Guide to Return to Ravnica: Part 3
• Planeswalker's Guide to Return to Ravnica: Part 2
• Planeswalker's Guide to Return to Ravnica: Part 1 
~

 Arts by Ryan Barger / Jason Chan

The Orzhov guild was founded on the belief 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, with an ostentatious hierarchy of priests, enforcers, and ghostly councilors ruling over a congregation of guiltbound servants, indebted ghosts, and thrulls. 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 making sure they seize 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.
~

 Arts by Maciej Kuciara / Willian Murrai

The Simic Combine is Ravnica's steward of nature and the wild; its mission is to preserve 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.
~

 Arts by Kev Walker / Raymond Swanland

The Gruul are a loose affiliation of savage clans that squat in Ravnica's alleyways, abandoned zones, and ruins. Many of the Gruul clans have come to occupy the Rubblebelt, a broken thread of war-ruined land and settlements that begins near the outskirts of Ravnica's Tenth District. Warfare among the Gruul is constant and almost ritualistic; the Gruul believe that only the strong should survive and rule. The Gruul are the most disenfranchised and hold the most anti-civilization views of all of Ravnica's guilds, and as such are the most ill at ease in a world covered by city.
~

Return to Ravnica Novel

~
Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We were planning on posting a few EDH and modern lists but as you have come to expect, we really wanted to have all the physical Magic: the Gathering cards in hand and play out a few games first before posting.  We are just waiting on a few last minute additions we have ordered from MTG Mint Card before we write something up for you.

Anywhoos - chances are you like to read as you are actually reading these words.  Don't worry, we won't tell - we like to read too.  We are most definitely a big fan of MTG flavour and of course, those magic novels.  We were rather happy to hear a while ago that Return to Ravnica would get a novel - well here's the news . . .

 ~

This fall, Magic: The Gathering fans returned to the most revered plane in the Multiverse – Ravnica, a plane covered entirely by city and inhabited by 10 guilds all vying for control.

Ravnica is a plane of intrigue, mystery and few answers; however, Magic fans now have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the fabled plane like never before.  Wizards of the Coast today released Return to Ravnica, The Secretist Part 1, the first of a three part e-book in the form of a novella, written by Doug Beyer, writer and creative designer on the Magic: The Gathering R&D team.

In this first e-book, fans follow Planewalker Jace Beleren as he returns to his adoptive home of Ravnica to find all of the guilds preparing for battle. In his journey, he discovers evidence of disturbing gaps in his memory and a series of assassins on his trail. He also tries to reconnect with an old friend, but when she turns up dead, he ends up embroiled in a mystery that implicates all ten guilds and an ancient secret. While battle rages on across Ravnica, Jace finds himself fighting his own battle, with his own challenges and obstacles.
                  
Return to Ravnica, The Secretist Part 1 is available beginning today in the U.S. and Canada for $1.99 at Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo. A brief description is included below and a sample chapter can be found here. 
~
Magic: The Gathering eBooks
Return to Ravnica: The Secretist, Part One

A Planeswalker Novella

Jace Beleren has the power to travel between planes of the Multiverse, but with this gift comes isolation. He is one in a million. He is a planeswalker. And he is on the edge of a mystery that could alter the face of his adopted home—a vast, world-wide city known as Ravnica—forever.

Faced with a magical code that is built into the very foundations of the city-world itself, Jace marches into the numinous depths of Ravnica's underbelly in search of the promise of powerful magic. What he finds is perhaps more burden than boon.

Once buried in past, the code resurfaces as Ravnica's power-hungry mage guilds, unbound by the Guildpact that had once maintained order, struggle for control of the plane. But in the drive for primacy, there is no neutral ground.

Jace knows that he can't crack the code on his own, not while the guilds task teams of mages to unravel the mysteries, but he also knows that the danger of the quest is too great to include his friends. As the mystery begins to unravel, the choice may not be his alone.  

~

RtR Guide 1

~
Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Some more Return to Ravnica news today, loaded with Magic: The Gathering storyline flavour.  When you have a chance, swing on over to the Mothersite and check out today's feature article 'Planeswalker's Guide to Return to Ravnica: Part 1' by The Magic Creative Team.  The first set in the Return to Ravnica block (due to hit the shelves of your local games store on 5th October) will feature five guilds — the Azorius Senate, Golgari Swarm, Izzet League, Cult of Rakdos, and Selesnya Conclave with the other five guilds are to appear in the following expansion, Gatecrash.  Today's Planeswalker's Guide installment covers Selesnya only and we should expect four additional installments by the Magic Creative Team latter.

Anywhoos -
Let's have a look at some of the new previewed arts from today's article.  Ladies and Gentlemen - start your speculation engines . . . 
Art by Volkan Baga - Possible Selesnya Sanctuary or Temple Garden reprint ?  We imagine this art features the world-tree 'Vitu-Ghazi' from the storyline in what appears to be the Selesnya guildhall.  In terms of MTG gameplay, certainly a non-basic land if it gets printed.
Art by Volkan Baga - Wurm somewhat reminescent of Siege Wurm.  The Selesnya keyword is 'Populate' (To populate, put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of a creature token you control), but we are uncertain wether this wurm will get one.  The original Ravnica: City of Guilds set had three wurms, for which two had the 'Convoke' tech.

Art by Chase Stone - An Elemental by the look of it. Within the Mothersite article, some elementals may have chunks and pieces of masonry incorporated into its body for use as armor or weapons. 
Art by Ryan Barger - Loxodon with an pirate eye patch.  Not one of those albino loxodon warrior-priests who protect the Ivory Oaks in the storyline.  We think this art closely resembles Loxodon Hierach holding a Behemoth Sledge (?).

Art by Nils Hamm - Centaur Party! - a bit reminescent of Centaur Safeguard.  Perhaps not quite as wild as those Centaurs living in the Forbidden Forest adjecent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as these are to be more orderly Selesnya members.

~
Lastly - Check out the Return to Ravnica Early Bird Discount from MTG Mint Card, price reduced to as low as $34.99 for the Uncommon & Common card set. This offer will end on 31th August and will ship on 5th October.

~