Welcome to my new semi-regular article series I'm calling Knight of the Card Table, covering all things tabletop, card and board games alike! I'm starting off heavy duty with the first in a three part series, all revolving around the release of the first Magic: the Gathering set coming out in the new standard rotation. Battle for Zendikar is set to release in one week; which means tonight is officially the last FNM of the old standard, and that means it's Prerelease Weekend! Let's get started...
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| Tourism is the prime resource of Zendikar, just look at these happy visitors! |
There's been a veritable hurricane of information surrounding this return to Zendikar ever since its announcement back on March 9, but there's some parts that are more important heading into this weekend's festivities. Sure enough, Wizards has written their own primer, and even treated the fine folks of Ars Technica to a private prerelease earlier this week. As if the change to the standard rotation - which I mentioned last in my Magic Origins article in July - weren't enough, the format of the prerelease is changing as well, if only slightly. Until now the prerelease packs have consisted of five booster packs, one of five dated promo cards and seeded card pack tied to the theme or color grouping of a rather unusable box, along with a spindown counter and literature, or some similar iteration to this load out. The prerelease packs this time around are nixing that seeded pack altogether in favor of a sixth booster pack; there's still a foil promo card, but instead of one of five, it could be any rare or mythic rare from Battle for Zendikar; the spindown stays and the literature's been simplified a bit; and it all comes packed in a reusable deck box! (The last time they did the closest to this, was for the Dragon's Maze prerelease.)
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| With a box like this, opening one may feel like opening a hedron itself... |
Next up, we need to talk briefly on some new and returning mechanics. Stepping up to bat we have Awaken, Converge, and Ingest. And back for another swing are favored abilities like Rally, an ability trigger with its roots in Zendikar's Ally creature class; and Landfall which returns unfettered straight from the first Zendikar block. Both of these returning abilities will require keen eyes for when cards enter or act on the field. Finally, be sure to keep a watchful eye out for Devoid cards, they'll make big plays for being colorless inspire of their casting costs. For more help, I highly recommend Wizards own prerelease primer, their article on the sealed deck format, and this article on the mechanics in Battle for Zendikar.
Last on the slab is of course something everyone's been waiting for since the last time we visited Zendikar, full art basic lands. This will be the first chance everyone will be able to get their hands on some brand new, fresh printed full art lands that haven't been sitting in someone's drawer for the last 6 to 16 years, planswalkers rejoice! So if you've been envious of an opponent's deck full of Zendikar land and unwilling to shell out almost $1.50+ per card, know that we are literally t-minus one week and counting until that playing field is leveled and full art basics are affordable agin. As an added bonus...sort of, WotC has decided to up the ante to another level by adding in an extra chase factor to the BFZ release: the 25 Zendikar Expeditions cards. These full art, foiled, chase versions of the shock and pain lands are being inserted into booster packs at a ratio of nearly 1 card per case of boosters packs. Now, boosters are sold in 36 pack boxes, which then ship to stores in cases of 6 booster boxes. Wizards has said that these cards will be slightly less rare than pulling a premium foil mythic rare, so this places the ratio of these cards at just less than 1:3240 cards or 1:216 boosters. This was definitely a boost in preorder sales for M:tG, indeed my LGS is nearly sold out. It could be possible to see some of these make their debut this weekend as well.
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| Take a peak at the beautiful chase bounty... For some, it may be as close as they get... |
But have no fear readers! I have a release article planned, complete with product as I have per the Core releases. Until then, have a look-see at Magic's Battle for Zendikar Card Image Gallery, and be sure to head back on Tuesday for my Prerelease Recap and Setup for Release Day! Good luck this weekend everyone; shuffle well, and tap strong! For Zendikar!
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