Welcome back faithful readers to the War Torn Front blog for the week of July 22nd. Despite the two week break, we come back to quite a bit of speculation, rumor, and general resentment regarding the recent decisions made by Wizards. Today, we are going to discuss San Diego Comic Con and the Planeswalker product, From The Vault: 20, and the new Commander product for 2013 So with that on the plate, lets go.
So last week, San Diego played host to one of the biggest conventions for Pop Culture, Comic-Con. While the panel at Comic-Con did have quite the tasty morsels of information regarding the future of Magic for this year, It was what was on-sale that had the community up in arms. The Hasbro Toy Shop was selling a set of the M14 Planeswalkers, done in the art style of black-on-black. These 5 planeswalkers would only be available through Comic-Con weekend and on the Hasbro Toy Store Website after Comic-Con. The MSRP on this set was set at $65 on-site, and $60 plus tax when it went online. The result of this was pretty evident. By the end of Friday, July 19th, Comic-Con was sold out of the Planeswalker product. Ebay prices on these sets are skyrocketing with the lowest bid/buyout on Ebay today, July 24th, at $330. This is absolutely absurd in my opinion. I understand collectibles at Comic-Con are going to be pricey, since they are exclusive only to Comic-Con. However, asking $300 minimum for a set of Planeswalkers that may not necessarily be good. While collectors will pay the price for this set, I feel Wizards missed out on a chance to give many players a great gift, especially with the push of planeswalkers as the main focus for Magic. However, Wizards' decision to release information about the new products following in the year may have taken some pressure off the Comic-Con decision, it also created a whole new can of worms to deal with.
The biggest news to come out of Comic-Con was the official spoilers to the From the Vault for this year: FTV 20. This set would present 20 cards from Magic's past winning tournament lists, one from each year. In this way, the community can celebrate the cards that turned Magic into what it is today. The bomb dropping for the FTV is Jace, the Mind Sculptor. As soon as this key card was announced, The price on the FTV shot up, with sales ending as high as $450 for pre sales. In addition to Jace, Gilded Lotus, Impulse, Akroma's Vengeance, Hymn to Tourach, Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni, Cruel Ultimatum, and Venser, Shaper Savant are all making an appearance in this years FTV. Many players are still in shock over Jace being reprinted and are trying to decide whether it is time to drop him or simply hold onto him. Chia Lee said it best in regards to the Sculptor of Minds. "The foil prices will fluctuate, the regular ones will still hold value." I believe this idea to be true as well. We have had reprints of Tarmogoyf and Swords, yet their overall price has not been greatly affected. Personally, I am still looking forward to what is left in FTV:20. There are still plenty of spots left to make this FTV great, as opposed to making this FTV: Jace.
Now that I covered the sets that are causing some conflict in the community, I can switch gears and talk about sets that I am genuinely looking forward to. Let us lead with the Commander product coming in November. Wizards announced 5 new Commander decks will be released. These 5 decks will be Shard aligned. This means we get Naya, Esper, Jund, Bant, and Grixis Commander decks with brand new generals and new cards. This product will introduce 51 new cards to Vintage and Legacy, and each Commander deck will have 15 new cards legal only in Vintage and Legacy. Over the Comic-Con weekend we got to see two of the new generals: Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge. Prossh is a 3RGB 5/5 Flying Dragon with Whenever you cast Prossh, you make x 0/1 Kobolds of Kher Keep, where X is the mana you spent to cast Prossh. Finally, he has a second effect: Sacrifice another creature: Prossh gets +1/+0 until the end of turn. Jeleva is a 1URB 1/3 Flying Vampire Wizard with whenever you cast her each opponent exiles X cards from the top of their libraries where X is the amount of mana spent to cast Jeleva. Her second ability is whenever she attacks, she can cast an instant or sorcery from the exiled zone without paying it's mana cost. I really like both of these generals. I love how they are turning the Commander tax on generals from a detrimental effect into a beneficial one on certain generals. Even better than this is the fact that this product may not be as badly limited in terms of production as the FTV or the Planeswalkers set. I feel this product set will still end up being fairly reasonable for a 5 100 card decks, that most people should be able to get their hands on.
While there is some pretty badass news on Theros, I feel Theros deserves its own article. So next week, I will tackle Theros and what it means for the future of Magic. With that, I leave you guys with the EDH play-by-play.
Players: Chris F: Xira Arien, Bryan S: Animar, Soul of Elements Matt W:Sen Triplets Cody: Rhys, the Redeemed
Turn 1: Cody wins the die roll and leads with Plains. Bryan plays an Izzet Guildgate. Chris plays a Misty Rainforest. and Matt plays a Plains.
Turn 2: Cody plays a Forest and plays Rhys, the Redeemed. Bryan plays a Gruul Guildgate. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris cracks the Misty Rainforest (-1), and gets a tapped Overgrown Tomb. Chris plays a Graven Cairns and plays Bitterblossom. Matt simply plays a Watery Grave into play tapped.
Turn 3:Cody passes the turn and discards Rain of Thorns. Bryan plays a Fire-Lit Thicket, and casts Animar, Soul of Elements. Chris starts his turn by making a Faerie (-1), plays a Mountain, and casts a Sensei's Divining Top. Matt plays an Island and casts Dimir Signet.
Turn 4: Cody passes the turn, still no land drop. Bryan plays a Coalition Relic and passes. At the end of Bryan's turn Chris uses Top. Chris makes another Faerie (-1), plays a Forest, casts Wood Elves getting a tapped Stomping Ground and sends his first Faerie into Bryan for 1. Matt plays an Isolated Chapel and casts a Coalition Relic.
Turn 5: Cody:40, Bryan 39, Chris 37, Matt 40. Cody passes his turn still missing land drops. At the end of Cody's turn, Bryan and Matt both charge their Relics. Bryan plays a Mosswort Bridge, then casts Coiling Oracle netting a Forest. He then finishes his turn by playing Rhystic Study. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses his Top. Chris makes another Faerie token (-1) and plays Bojuka Bog on Cody. He then continues the turn by playing Sakura-Tribe Elder and Xira Arien. He then sends two of his Faeries into Bryan. Matt takes his turn, plays a Swamp and casts Keiga, the Tide Star.
Turn 6: Cody 40, Bryan 37, Chris 36, Matt 40. Cody plays a Plains for the turn and casts Glorious Anthem. At the end of Cody's turn Bryan and Matt both charge their Relics and Chris sacs his Elder for a Swamp. Bryan plays a Heartwood Storyteller, Somberwald Sage,a Wurmcoil Engine, and a Breeding Pool into play tapped. Chris makes another Faerie token (-1), plays a Twilight Mire, casts a Graveborn Muse and sends 3 Faeries into Bryan. Matt plays a Chromatic Lantern and passes the turn.
Turn 7: Cody 40, Bryan 34, Chris 35, Matt 40. Cody plays a Forest and casts Trostani, Selesyna's Voice. At the End of Cody's turn Chris uses his Top and draws with Xira, and Matt plays Mystical Teachings getting Desertion and charges his Relic. Bryan starts the turn by casting Woodfall Primus hitting Chris' Bitterblossom. He then plays Simic Growth Chamber, his own Keiga, the Tide Star and sends Animar and Wurmcoil to Chris. Chris uses a Faerie to block Wurmcoil and Wood Elf to block Animar. Bryan gains 6 life from Wurmcoil. Bryan ends the turn by casting Vexing Shusher. Chris takes 1 from Graveborn Muse and draws a card. Chris casts Lurking Predators and passes the turn. Matt simply plays Sen Triplets, triggering the Predators. Chris gets a Phyrexian Plaguelord.
Turn 8: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 34, Matt 40. Cody plays a Parallel Lives, triggering Predators. Chris gets a Dimir House Guard. Bryan activates his Mosswort Bridge casting Blightsteel Colossus. Predators hits an Eternal Witness which returns Chris' Misty Rainforest back to his hand. Bryan continues and casts Consecrated Sphinx, Predators triggers giving Chris a Sylvan Primordial. Chris' Primordial hits Bryan's Rhystic Study, Cody's Glorious Anthem, and Matt's Chromatic Lantern. Chris searches up 3 Forests and puts them into play tapped. Bryan continues with the turn and attempts to cast Phyrexian Metamorph, which Matt counters with Desertion. Bryan responds and casts Draining Whelk on the Desertion. Phyrexian Metamorph comes in and copies Woodfall Primus targeting Lurking Predators. Bryan continues the trend and casts Acidic Slime hitting Matt's Dimir Signet. Bryan then sends Animar, Wurmcoil, Keiga, and Woodfall into Chris. Chris uses three of his Faerie tokens to block Keiga, Woodfall, and Wurmcoil, and Eternal Witness blocks Animar. Before damage, Chris sacs his Faerie token blocking Wurmcoil to Phyrexian Plaguelord to give Somberwald Sage -1/-1. Chris takes 5 trample damage from Woodfall Primus. Chris untaps and takes 1 for Graveborn Muse and responds by activating Top. He then plays Fire-Lit Thicket and Tops during his turn. Chris proceeds to sacrifice his board to Plaguelord, plays a Bloodghast, sacs that and the Plaguelord, and casts Living Death. Chris returns Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elf, Graveborn Muse, Dimir House Guard, Sylvan Primordial, Eternal Witness, Phyrexian Plaguelord, and Bloodghast. Matt, Bryan and Cody's boards are wiped, but Bryan ends up with a persisted Woodfall Primus, 2 tokens from Wurmcoil Engine, and a Somberwald Sage. Bryan's Woodfall Primus hits Chris' Fire-Lit Thicket. Chris' Sylvan Primordial hits Bryan and Matt's Coalition Relics and Cody's Parallel Lives. Wood Elves plus the Primordial net Chris 4 more Forests. Eternal Witness gets Chris Living Death. Chris then casts Survival of the Fittest and casts Fleshbag Marauder. Bryan sacs his Somberwald Sage while Chris lets Bloodghast die. Chris then ends his turn. Matt simply passes his turn.
Turn 9: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 29, Matt 40. Cody plays a Plains and casts Scion of Vitu-Ghazi, making a bird token and Populating it. Bryan plays a Garruk's Horde revealing a Body Double. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses Survival pitching Acidic Slime to get Butcher of Malakir. Chris takes one for Graveborn Muse plays a Misty Rainforest and uses Survival pitching Big Game Hunter, paying the Madness Cost to hit Garruk's Horde. Chris fetches Nether Traitor and casts Butcher of Malakir. Chris then sends his team into Matt for 26. Matt untaps, plays Tamiyo, and uses her down tick targeting Chris to draw 11 cards.
Turn 10: Cody 40, Bryan 40, Chris 28, Matt 14. Cody plays a Forest and casts Collective Blessing. He sends his small team to Chris. Chris responds by saccing Fleshbag Marauder, Wood Elves, and Sakura-Tribe Elder to Phyrexian Plaguelord making everyone sacrifice 3 creatures to Butcher of Malakir. Chris takes no damage. Bryan casts Urabrask, the Hidden, then casts Body Double copying Wurmcoil Engine. During Bryan's turn Chris sacs Bloodghast to Plaguelord, cracks his Misty Rainforest (-1)to get a Forest to return Bloodghast back to play, which he sacs again to Plaguelord. This makes everyone sacrifice two creatures. At the end of Bryan's turn, Chris uses Survival to pitch Nether Traitor to get Avenger of Zendikar. Chris takes 1 for Graveborn Muse and uses Survival pitching Charnelhoard Wurm to find Madrush Cyclops. Chris casts Avenger of Zendikar making 17 tokens, Madrush Cyclops and Sulfurous Springs making his plant token army bigger by 1. He then sacrifices Big Game Hunter to Plaguelord to make everyone sacrifice 1 creature. He sends 32 points of damage at Bryan, and 20 points at Matt. Matt dies due to the damage.
Turn 11: Cody 40, Bryan 8, Chris 26, Matt Dead. Cody plays a Forest and casts Trostani's Summoner making a 4/4 Rhino, a 3/3 Centaur, and 2/2 Knight. Bryan plays a Rogue's Passage and passes. Chris takes 1 for Graveborn Muse, plays a Woodland Cemetery making his tokens bigger by 1. Chris then casts Primal Surge and bricks on Diabolic Tutor after leaving himself with 17 cards in Library. Chris sends his team all out to Cody and Bryan killing them.
Final Result: Chris 25, Matt Dead, Bryan Dead, Cody Dead.
Until next week, loyal fans See you at War Torn Front!
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