Phew! Week 1 is done!

Week 1 of previews for a new set are always the most epic, and of course this is a whole new block, so the amount of awesome has been turned up to 11, and Friday definitily doesn't dissapoint. First, let's start with 2 cards I discovered at 11:30 on Thursday night (sounds like a recurring theme). Let's start with a nice Legendary:

I currently have a Kor artifact deck, but this seals the deal for that deck. The only immediate change that I need to make is to remove the Armamant Master and replace him with this guy. There is so much awesome to this card! For the cost of pumping up my creature to make him more dangerous and powerful, I get a free creature every turn who is big enough to be relevent and deal some serious damage. Sounds like a good deal to me! Mark and I were talking about a potential GW tokens deck that used Beastmaster Ascension as a win condition, similar to the Zvi list from block constructed but utilizing white for good removal. This is potentially a card that could make an appearance in it. I will take time this weekend to explore that possibility.

But before I can make a tokens deck, I must show you our first green mythic:

Obviously this guy rocks, but just be weary you don't get wrecked by a Day of Judgement. This card allows you to choose any number of lands that you wish, so maybe using 4 of your 8 will be enough to quickly send your opponent packing. This is a great example of raw green power, and it's nice to see the big guys still have friends.

But one more thing that's really cool before we even get to today's articles on the mothership! Finally, only 4 days late, the Orb of Insight has been launched. If you aren't aware, the orb of insight allows you to make one word searches through the SoM gatherer page, and it spits out a number of how many results there are. For example, I input "planeswalker" and it returns the number 3. That means that 3 cards in the set have the word "planeswalker" somewhere in its rules text. You can also run mana costs in the search. 3 planeswalkers (Elspeth, Venser, Koth) have already been released, so that means there are no more planeswalkers in this set and no cards that specifically target planeswalkers (which all 3 of them are currently $50 on SCG. Don't buy them now, their price will plummet in short time I think). Here are some other results from tests I ran:

Myr - 41
Artifact - 144
Koth, Elspeth, Venser - 2 (very interesting...)
0 - 7 (mana cost?)
Proliferate - 7
Metalcraft - 22
Imprint - 5
Charge - 33
Myr - 41
Spellbomb - 15
Land - 37 (20 of those should be basic lands)
Infect - 22
Intimidate - 4
Legendary - 6
Flying - 31

I could go on forever, but if I make this list any longer you will probably just skip the whole thing. I encourage you to mess around with the orb of insight, with a little practice, it can be very revealing!

But after all that pomp and circumstance, let's get the last previews of the week. I doubt the Myr Battlesphere will really ever see much play. Even on the casual battlefields, there is a major drawback to this guy and it is the lack of trample or another form of evasion. With that being said, you don't need to attack with this guy on the field to win. All you need is a bunch of Myr and 2 Myr Galvanizer from the other day. Tap all your Myr except a mana Myr and 1 Galvanizer to the Battlesphere. Then use the last 2 Myr to untap all your Myr except that first Galvenizer. Then keep on using the mana Myr and the untapped Galvenizer to keep the endless combo going until your opponent is dead, no attacking required. All this is colorless, so you could pick whatever color you want to provide all the necessary support spells of your choice to protect this combo.

The other card previewed today is a great card that can really mess with your opponent. This card can singlehandedly stop the Valakut Ramp deck by preventing them from utilizing the card advantage provided by Primeval Titan if they want to play him turn 6. Also, if you get this guy out turn 2, your opponent's fetch lands become a burdon more than a convenience because they have to hope to topdeck another land before their fetch can produce any mana. Please note though, that the best way to beat this card is to pay 2 mana at the beginning of your turn, then activate 4 fetch lands at the same time, then do other search effects all in the same turn. This guy is going to be very solid.

But of course, the only previews for friday don't belong to the mothership exclusively, here are some other cards from around the interwebz to go gaga over:

In the right deck, this is Lightning Bolt, but a whole lot more unfair

Very aggressive card that is a nice reference to an old goodie, Masticore

If this guy gets involved in combat, it's tough to win from there. Put him side-by-side with Palakka Wurm and your opponent is in for a world of hurt!

Well, that is it today. I am trying not to ramble on like I normally would because I have many things to look forward to later today that require waking up. Stay classy