Magic: The Gathering (Unreleased Sets)

Yeah, but once M13 formally comes out there will be two Lilianas in Standard anyway. I doubt they'd add a third.

Liliana was in Innistrad. Thusfar there have been two cases of a 'walker showing up in consecutive blocks: the first was Ajani in Lorwyn and Alara, which was likely just done to make it clear to players that they intend to have new versions of 'walkers happen at all. It also doesn't really count since the 'walkers weren't involved in the Lorwyn storyline. The second case was Sarkhan in Alara and Zendikar, but he didn't show up until the last set of the latter.

Given that Liliana was not just in Innistrad but was the main focus of it, I doubt she'll show up again so soon. Idler also has a good point that there have never been three versions of a 'walker legal in Standard at once. It would've happened briefly with Jace if one of his incarnations hadn't gotten the banhammer, but even then, that would've been for a few months, not a whole year.

As for 'walkers appearing in a core set and then again in the immediately following expansion, it's happened twice now: Chandra in M10 and Zendikar, and Garruk in M12 and Innistrad. Jace looks like he's going to be the third.

Maybe we'll see Ral Zarek or Kiora Atua. Or Dack Fayden.

Dack (and any other comic characters) are confirmed to be not getting cards in the immediate future.

In Fayden's case, hopefully "in the immediate future" means "ever".

Longer than that, if possible.

I guess we post Prerelease results in this thread rather than the other one?

Went to the afternoon flight for a single round because the entry fee is effectively buying six boosters at $2 off each booster. Pulled Ajani, Odric and a Serra Angel, so crafted a W/G deck and won the only round I was in and got another booster.

Evening flight, pulled no bombs, but had two Murders and two Divine Verdicts, so built a B/W deck with some solid fliers. Pretty much won my games off my pair of Griffin Protectors, while shouting "GUILTY!" at the top of my lungs whenever I cast Divine Verdict. Took first place (quite proud of this as my deck had literally zero bombs, so I had to smart-play my way out every time an opponent dropped a 'walker or a massive threat), walked away with ten more packs!

Went to a midnight showing, drawing no bombs. Although, I managed to pick up four Murders in six packs, so that's something. Went 2-2 in matches, missing 3-1 and six free packs by a single game. 'Twas fun and my first major Magic session.

Forgot this was even prerelease weekend and didn't go. May or may not go tomorrow. Core set prereleases aren't as exciting.

edited 7th Jul '12 1:13:05 PM by Nyktos

I wouldn't say they're less exciting, but they certainly are slightly simpler. There's fewer variables to account for, and fewer cards to potentially play around. I quite like it, though I do just like Prereleases.

I respect Wizards' recent efforts to try and improve it, but core set Limited is still just not that much fun, and the sets themselves are harder to get excited for.

Went 4-2 at today's prerelease. First tried a little B/W exalted, but lacked any decent removal. After going 1-1, I switched to R/G beats 'n burn and just stomped on the competition. Didn't pull any bombs, but I got three of the rings (B, R, G) and a Trading Post.

Ended up sleeping through it. I don't really mind, in the end. Maybe I'll go to the street release.

My final match at my prerelease was against a U/R player.

In Game 1 I Murdered his Firewing Phoenix and then use Rise From the Grave on it. I spent the rest of the game not attacking with it, just to taunt him.

In Game 2, there was a moment when he was staring down a rather large Griffin Protector, sighed, and said that Chandra's Fury was much more impressive when he misread it, especially when faced with the prospect of the cheap creatures in my hand that would soon be pumping it every turn.

For those of you who own Dot P 13, here is a post telling us about the expansions. Also, decklists.

edited 9th Jul '12 8:21:54 AM by Lovecrafter

I missed the prerelease, since I had to move heavy objects on Saturday and had already arranged a Warhammer game for Sunday.

Making it to the release isn't looking likely either.

On another note, anyone up for a scrap?

[1]

How would you like four 5/5ers? How about cloning them in eight 9/9ers?

Rite them with a Doubling Season in play.

From today's Latest Developments, regarding the return of the M10 duals in M13: "In this case, I can say confidently that playing these lands in concert with Return to Ravnica is very cool and is worth the cost of having the same old cards legal in Standard for another year."

HMMM I WONDER WHY THAT MIGHT BE HMM.

Well, Magic Comic-Con panel tonight at six Western time. Can't wait to see what they spoil from Rt R.

That could very well just be them saying "Because we think multi-colour is HARD!".

Sure, I also think dualshocks should get a reprint in Return, but they very well might choose not to, and if people complain that they've been dropping hints, they can point at this and say they meant that the M10 duals help multi-colour players (which they do).

Still, fingers crossed!

Confirmed Return block stuff:

Guilds are back.
Return will have Izzet, Golgari, Azorious, Rakdos and Selesnya. The second set (named Gatecrash, which is a godawful name for a set) has the other five, and will be drafted as a large set. The third set has stuff for all guilds, and when it comes out the draft will change to one from each set.
Jace is in Return, Gideon is in Gatecrash as a W/R card.
Each guild has a new keyword.
Jarad is the Golgari mythic from the duel decks but we don't know what his card does yet.

What, all the Guilds?!

I guess I can see why, given the number of keywords that were wtfbroken in the wrong hands or ludicrously bad (*cough*radiance*cough*), but it surprises me that it applies to all of them.

I'm not sure if "new" means literally new or just not from the original Ravnica block - there are some mechanics that have appeared in other sets that would've been very appropriate for a particular guild, such as Battle Cry for Boros and Madness for Rakdos.

Also, news about guild leaders:

Rakdos, Izzet, Gruul and Orzhov retain their leaders, although they'll probably all get new cards.

Golgari have Jarad, obviously.

Isperia has ascended to leadership of the Azorius.

The Selesnya are now ruled by a three-in-one group of dryads.

The new Simic leader, Prime Speaker Zegana, is a merfolk.

The new Boros leader is called Aurelia. I'm guessing she's an angel.

The new Dimir leader is someone called Lazav. Not sure what species he/she/it is.

That just... screams "Kiora Atua is a member of the S Imic Guild and we will totally see her printed!"