Are you looking for a magical fantasy during the summer holidays? You will find that (and a ton of fun) with Magic: the Gathering’s newest and biggest set release since Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Set for release on June 14th, the Final Fantasy mega crossover is part of Magic’s Universes Beyond line, and promises legendary heroes and villains, powerful equipment and an unrivalled sense of nostalgia for anyone who grew up playing the games. Geek Culture and Tap & Sac are thrilled to reveal a very special preview card that even casual Final Fantasy fans will recognise: The Masamune!

What’s the Big Deal with The Masamune and Who Uses It?

The Masamune is one of the most iconic weapons across franchise history, wielded none other by Sephiroth, the big bad of Final Fantasy VII. More than just a normal odachi blade, it symbolises his might as the game’s penultimate and final boss – while its handle is long enough to accommodate both hands, Sephiroth carries it single-handedly due to his incredible strength. 

Much of the detail is carried over to the card design, including its gold-coloured tsuba, or guard, and curving angle, which varies across depictions but is never entirely straight (as seen on the left). The top-down perspective, with its tip pointing at the player, also references his infamous method of impalement instead of slashing, the traditional way of using the weapon. Meanwhile, the side stance Sephiroth adopts in the later games is reflected in the other card, showcasing a slightly lowered blade that falls under its own weight.

How is The Masamune as an Equipment in Magic?

The Masamune is no slouch and certainly lives up to its name as Sephiroth’s legendary weapon. When equipped, the creature wielding it gains First Strike and must be blocked if able. While it doesn’t have any triggers when dealing combat damage to a player (unlike other swords such as Sword of Fire and Ice), The Masamune supplies an additional benefit: “If a creature dying causes a triggered ability of this creature or an emblem you own to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.”

That was rather wordy, so it’s worth noting a few things: 

• The Masamune must be equipped onto a creature for it to be in effect.
• The extra triggered ability only applies to the creature that The Masamune is equipped to. If the creature doesn’t have any triggered abilities, then The Masamune is merely a glorified long sword. 
• Likewise with emblems, you need to have a death-triggering emblem for an extra triggered ability to happen. For example, The Masamune will not work with most emblems (like Chandra, Torch of Defiance’s emblem), but will work with the also-new Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel’s emblem

How Does The Masamune Compare with Other Strong Magic Swords?

Swords are the most-loved Equipment in Magic history, and as you would expect, is very well represented. There have been some very strong swords that have become just as mythical in Magic’s lore as a sword as The Masamune in the Final Fantasy realms. Let’s look at two other famous Magic swords and see how it compare with The Masamune.

Sword of Feast and Famine

Arguably one of the most powerful swords among the 10 of its cycle, Sword of Feast and Famine gives equipped creature protection from black and green, and +2/+2 stats. After connecting with a player, you get to untap all your Lands and force the opponent to discard a card. In short, every granted effect is going to get you ahead, especially when you can untap all your Lands and cast another few spells. Protection from two colours is also tough to get around, giving your creature added resilience.

The Masamune, on the other hand, doesn’t offer any protection or evasion, but instead goads the opponent to block. With First Strike, there’s a pretty good chance your creature will come out victorious. A Final Fantasy deck filled with death triggers will find The Masamune more useful, but in nearly every other scenario, Sword of Feast and Famine is going to be top pick.

Sword of the Animist

Another fan-favourite of Magic players, Sword of the Animist fits into the utility category, able to expand your mana base by searching for a Land and placing it directly onto the battlefield. The +1/+1 buff is not going to be that much of a game changer, but it’s offset by the sword’s low 2-mana cost and equip. 

The Masamune is clearly a better offensive tool than Sword of the Animist, and depending on what creature you have equipped, The Masamune can also outshine Sword of the Animist in pure value. For example, a Zulaport Cutthroat with The Masamune is going to be draining each opponent for 2 life instead of 1 when it triggers. That could happen any number of times you can muster, rather than just once per attack as is the case with Sword of the Animist. 

End Step

The Masamune is certainly going into every deck with Sephiroth, just for the sheer pleasure of having him swing his iconic sword, not to mention its ability synergises perfectly with Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel’s emblem. For most other decks, The Masamune is going to be quite situational and falls lower in the pecking order of powerful Final Fantasy Equipment. But with the Buster Sword also an actual Magic card, clashing both blades in a game would be a wonderful treat.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

The post Magic: The Gathering – Final Fantasy ‘The Masamune’ Card Preview appeared first on Geek Culture.

If you can’t get enough of flying, mythical creatures, then Magic: The Gathering’s next set is sure to get you fired up. Tarkir: Dragonstorm will hit local game stores on April 11, and will feature a host of powerful new dragons and the return of fan favourite Ugin, the dragon Planeswalker. Geek Culture and Tap & Sac are honoured to be part of the dragon clans, presenting a special preview card – Coordinated Maneuver!

Coordinated Maneuver is a common, white Instant that costs 1 white and 1 generic mana. It offers two modes (always a good thing) to choose from: either deal damage equal to the number of creatures you control to a target creature or Planeswalker, or destroy an Enchantment.

Coordinated Maneuver is a classic interaction spell (or trick) in white and has seen multiple variants and forms over the years. The first option of dealing damage to a creature or Planeswalker can be useful but is also contingent on the type of deck you are playing. White aggro is a classic archetype filled with many, many creatures – this is where Coordinated Maneuver would shine since you could easily deal 3-4 damage for just 2 mana. However, if you’re playing a blue-white control deck that is scarce on creatures, then Coordinated Maneuver will not be a smart inclusion.

The second mode is a little more accessible in the sense that it can be applied to any white deck. Enchantments are strong permanent cards that derive a lot of value to players. In recent sets, there’s the Overlord cycle and Sheltered by Ghosts from Duskmourn which have infiltrated the meta because of their unprecedented value generation. You’ll find Coordinated Maneuver’s ability to destroy an Enchantment will come in handy more often than not.

On the flipside, neither of these modes are the best in its class. White is filled with great direct removal spells for creatures or Planeswalkers. Get Lost is the prime example, and is also eligible in the Standard format, albeit it’s a rare card and will be pricier to obtain. Destroying Enchantments is also not an uncommon sight for white. In truth, white has strong blanket exile effects such as in Leyline Binding, Banishing Light and the new Perilous Snare. What if you needed to be rid of an Artifact instead of an Enchantment? There’s where you’ll find Coordinated Maneuver somewhat limiting. 

How Does it Compare to Recent White Removal Spells

Get Lost

Unfortunately this is a no contest. Get Lost costs the same as Coordinated Maneuver but can do so much more. It does give us the opponent two Map tokens, but this is a small price for the flexibility of destroying a major threat. There’s a reason why Get Lost has been slowly gaining value and is an auto-include in many Standard decks with white.

Perilous Snare

Perilous Snare will immediately nullify a threat, but it’s also conditional, assuming the opponent doesn’t destroy it with their own Coordinated Maneuver. Perilous Snare does have an added benefit at Max Speed, but Maneuver is an Instant and can catch your opponent off guard if played at an opportune time. Because Coordinated Maneuver also costs 1 mana left, we’re inclined to give it the win here.

Valorous Stance

The closest cousin to Coordinated Maneuver offers the flexibility to go offense or defense. With Valorous Stance, you can either protect one of your own creatures with Indestructible, or get rid of a beefy threat. It can’t target Planeswalkers not deal with smaller creatures (with toughness less than 4) so it does feel more limited in that regard.

Stroke of Midnight

This is a weaker Get Lost but still a very effective removal spell because it can still target any non-land permanent. Giving the affected owner a 1/1 creature is not the worst, but also doesn’t help when you need the board clear of blockers. Overall, you’ll likely find Stroke of Midnight being included in more Commander decks than Coordinated Maneuver. By that measure, Stroke of Midnight wins.

End Step

Coordinated Maneuver isn’t going to turn many heads but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad card. It is still highly playable in Draft or Prerelease where you’ll definitely be playing some creatures and a utility card like this should not be overlooked. Beyond those formats, its viability becomes much less, unfortunately.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

The post Magic: The Gathering – Tarkir: Dragonstorm ‘Coordinated Maneuver’ Card Preview appeared first on Geek Culture.

Gear yourself up for a thrilling ride with Magic: The Gathering’s first-ever racing-themed set! Releasing on 14 February 2025, Aetherdrift sports a turbo focus on Vehicles and comes with an entire toolkit of new mechanics to go along with it. We are honoured to present an exclusive preview card that features the new card mechanic, Max Speed – Pride of the Road!

Pride of the Road is an uncommon white creature card with 2/5 Power/Toughness stats. Not just that, it comes with Vigilance for a rather well-balanced cost of 1 white and 3 generic mana. It also boasts the brand new Speed mechanic. The first time you start your engines in a game, your speed will start at 1. From there, you increase your speed once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Once you reach 4 Speed, you’re now on Max Speed status.

At the beginning of your combat phase, if you have Max Speed, Pride of the Road will give target creature or vehicle Double Strike. Double Strike is one of the game’s more powerful abilities, letting a creature not only hit first in combat, but also deal a second round of damage. Effectively, Pride of the Road’s 2 Power will translate to 4 damage. 

The ability to give any creature or vehicle Double Strike can give you a massive head start and in truth this makes Pride of the Road stand out among many other cards that harness the Speed mechanic.

Ways to Increase Speed

Because you can only increase your speed by 1 each turn, attaining Max Speed is essentially a 4-turn process. Unfortunately, Pride of the Road’s white color identity doesn’t help the situation since white does rely heavily on combat to make an opponent lose life. Luckily, triggering an increase in speed does not have to be through combat damage. If you’re able to use Pride of the Road with a secondary colour, here are a few other ways an opponent can lose life:

Activated Abilities

There are various cards that “ping” an opponent for 1 damage by activating an ability. Brimstone Trebuchet and Deadeye Duelist are 2 examples out of many cards that can hit the opponent without the need to attack and connect. Often the requirement is merely to Tap, and because their abilities are reusable, they become trusted and reliable sources to keep upticking your Speed.

Triggered Abilities

Causing an opponent to lose life can also come from triggered abilities in a multitude of forms. Some, such as Cauldron Familiar, cause an opponent to immediately lose life as they enter. Other triggers can also happen by creatures dying or leaving the battlefield. Spirit of Malevolence falls into this category, though we don’t recommend sacrificing your creatures just for the sake of boosting your Speed.

Yet another safe bet to ping your opponent is through Enchantments or Artifacts that trigger automatically during your turn. Subversion and Sinister Monolith are great examples, though they do have a rather high casting cost and you may have to wait a whole turn to see an increase in speed.

Which Format Can Pride of the Road Race In?

Assuming you’ve attained Max Speed, how strong is Pride of the Road? There’s something to be said about giving a creature Double Strike each combat. It leaves opponents eating dirt if they don’t have big enough creatures that can trade with yours.

The 4-turn clock to achieve Max Speed is a rather long pitstop, and this reduces its effectiveness in faster formats. It could do better in a slower game, such as those in Draft or Prerelease events where decks are not as finely tuned.

In Commander, other cards such as Duelist’s Heritage and Fire Shrieker can come online much faster and still see recurring value each turn. Unless your deck is built around the Speed mechanic and you have certifiable ways to achieve Max Speed quickly, Pride of the Road isn’t going to be very useful there.

Pride of the Road isn’t an all-round speedster, so only pick the races you can win.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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Is it already the end of 2024? The last Magic: the Gathering set of the year – Foundations – will close off the year but also set the stage for 2025. Launching on 15 November, the beginner-friendly set will indeed have an impact on the Standard format for years to come. Foundation cards will be Standard-legal until 2029, way longer than the current 3-year rotation. For any new player, it’s reassuring to know that these cards will last a good 5 years in Standard, and more for any other format.  

Foundations offers a mix of new cards and notable reprints, which is sure to please both veterans and newbies alike. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, Geek Culture and Tap & Sac are thrilled to present a preview card courtesy of Wizards of the Coast – Sire of Seven Deaths – a monster Mythic Rare card that is as strong as it sounds. 

Sire of Seven Deaths certainly lives to its name, with 7 keywords (a new record?) built into a 7/7 body that costs 7 generic mana. By the way, the keywords include Ward, so you have to pay 7 life to target it. 

With First Strike, Vigilance, Menace, Trample, Reach, Lifelink and Ward, Sire of Seven Deaths is going to be a pain to deal with. First Strike means it will almost always have the advantage in combat, and Vigilance assures that it can stay behind as a blocker. It doesn’t have Flying, but Reach will help it defend against your opponent’s flyers. 

And if your opponent ever wants to target it with a removal spell, it’s going to take 7 life points just to do it. That’s over a third of a player’s starting life total in Standard, so it’s not something that will happen very often. Sire of Seven Deaths is still vulnerable to the ubiquitous board wipes and sacrifice triggers, but it’s very resistant to anything else. 

It certainly lives up to its Eldrazi type, which is typical of scary monsters, but how does it compare to its brethren?

Sire of Seven Deaths vs Bane of Bala Ged

If there’s one uncharacteristic note about Sire of Seven Deaths, it doesn’t feature that iconic Annihilator keyword that many others do. Annihilator forces the opponent to sacrifice a Permanent and is one of the most dreaded abilities when facing an Eldrazi.  

While it doesn’t have Annihilator, Bane of Bala Ged is a comparable Eldrazi that makes the defending player Exile 2 permanents on attack. However it doesn’t have any protection abilities, giving the opponent some time to find a solution. 

Sire of Seven Deaths works so well as an all-round attacker and blocker. Even if it were to be removed before it can engage in combat, the 7-life penalty due to Ward is enough to change the course of the game. If undealt with, you can also use Sire’s Lifelink ability to come back from a losing position. 

Winner: Sire of Seven Deaths

Sire of Seven Deaths vs Devourer of Destiny

Devourer of Destiny is a newly-introduced Eldrazi that offers a unique skill. If Devourer is in your opening hand, you can look among the top 4 cards of your deck and put one on top. It usually will fix Mana or Land issues, which you want to avoid in any game but especially so with high-costing Eldrazis. 

When you do eventually cast Devourer of Destiny, you also get to Exile a colored Permanent. Although it’s a one-time deal, the choice to get rid of your opponent’s biggest threat is not to be underestimated. Ironically, you cannot target Sire of Seven Deaths since it’s a colorless creature. You could argue there are also way cheaper costing cards that can remove threats. 

It’s a bit of a toss-up on who should take a slot in your deck. Devourer of Destiny’s 2-for-1 value is great, but it’s a high cost and cannot be used more than once. Sire of Seven Deaths is a trusty attacker and blocker that is going to gain a lot more value over many turns. 

Winner: Sire of Seven Deaths

Sire of Seven Deaths vs Benthic Anomaly

Also costing 7 mana, Benthic Anomlay is a 7/8 creature that also makes a copy of one of your opponent’s creatures. The copy has the accumulated Power and accumulated Toughness of chosen creatures for each opponent. In a Commander game, it’s not unfeasible to have a 10/10 copy with additional keywords or triggers. 

Interestingly, being a 7/8 in Power and Toughness, Benthic Anomaly can survive a direct confrontation against the Sire of Seven Deaths. That’s also not taking into consideration whatever copy you get to create with the Anomaly. Unfortunately, the Sire doesn’t have Deathtouch, otherwise it would be a no-content. 

Winner: Benthic Anomaly

End Step

Sire of Seven Deaths is a force to be reckoned with and a worthy addition to the Eldrazi line. It doesn’t have Annihilator but it’s a steadfast attacker and blocker that will surely cost your opponent even if they want to remove it through targeting spells. It holds its own very well against other Eldrazi, its main downside being it doesn’t have triggered abilities to synergise with other cards. If you pull this in a Foundations pack, its versatility means you can slot into many decks, even non-Eldrazi ones. 

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

The post Magic: The Gathering – Foundations ‘Sire Of Seven Deaths’ Card Preview appeared first on Geek Culture.

Magic: the Gathering (MTG) is a multiverse that keeps on growing, thanks to multiple expansions every year that reveal new planes (MTG lingo for world), from radiant and lush environments to the deep and dark depths that know no end. For every new plane, creative teams at MTG publisher, Wizards of the Coast, spend months building a new reality, sometimes down to the very blades of grass that fill the land.

Magic’s newest set, Duskmourn: House of Horror, takes place in a plane never seen before – a literal haunted world. And with the tactical collectible card game’s extensive 30 year history, it’s no longer an easy task to introduce a new plane when there has been so much legacy and lore that fans have grown a fondness for. We speak to Emily Teng, Senior Game Designer at Wizards to gleam some insights into how they keep each new plane fresh and unique.

From the wild west world to an entire plane haunted with spooks, how do you and the team find inspiration when conceptualizing new worlds?

A lot of our new worlds actually started as pitches from individual team members. We’ve got a bunch of creative folks with a wide variety of interests that they personally would love to see as a Magic set, and anyone can suggest an idea for a new set. After that, we evaluate each pitch to see if it’s wide enough to support the needs of an entire card set. Sometimes it is, and we move forward with it as it is—modern horror, for example. Sometimes an idea is compelling but too narrow or needs some extra work to ground it within Magic, and we will have to set it aside.

Bloomburrow and the new Duskmourn are great worlds that are almost polar opposites in theme. What kind of worlds are the hardest to build in terms of lore and carving out a unique identity?

In my opinion, the hardest worlds are ones that have thematic or tonal overlaps with already- existing worlds. Duskmourn is a clear example: it has to define itself against Magic’s existing horror-based worlds of Innistrad and New Phyrexia. We also ran into a similar issue with Bloomburrow, which wanted to lean into pastoral charm and whimsy, but in a way that set it apart from Eldraine and Lorwyn. We spent a lot of time in early worldbuilding meetings, figuring out exactly how to thread that needle to keep it feeling distinct.

What is that “What If?” world that you’ve always wanted to explore in Magic but haven’t had the opportunity yet?

I don’t know about “always wanted to explore” just because of how recent they are, but I really want to see what happens if Duskmourn invades Bloomburrow…

For the worlds that did become a reality in Magic and you had a hand in, which are you most proud of, and what elements of that world make it stand out from the rest?

You’re probably tired of me talking about only these two worlds, but honestly, it’s a tie between Bloomburrow and Duskmourn. I’m really proud of how we made the different animals in Bloomburrow feel super compelling, while expressing their color identities differently from Ravnica’s guilds. For Duskmourn, I’m super happy with how malevolent the place turned out. It’s actively out to get you in a way that’s tailored personally to everything you’re afraid of. In my opinion, it takes the prize for the worst plane to be on in the whole Multiverse.

Duskmourn certainly has taken the mantle of scariest place in Magic’s multiverse, with the five Overlord cards (one for each colour) featuring nasty monster art and really powerful abilities to strike fear into your opponents. Above them is the big bad of the plane – Valgavoth – a massive 9/9 creature with Flying and Lifelink and can even cast your opponent’s dead minions. Without careful collaboration within Emily’s team, it’s unlikely any of these cards would have come to light.

While Duskmourn marks the last new plane of 2024, you can expect 2025 to give us more worlds of wonder and awe, built with rich history and themes that will not leave fans disappointed. Combine that with revisiting familiar planes, there’s going to be a lot to explore. We can’t wait to get going.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

The post Geek Interview – Magic: The Gathering’s Emily Teng Explores The Tricky Territory Of Building New Worlds appeared first on Geek Culture.

Prepare yourself as Magic: the Gathering’s scariest set takes form. Duskmourn: House of Horror is a world that is one entire haunted house, so there’s really nothing else to find except your worst nightmares. On 27th Sept, expect to see plenty of zombies, skeletons and horrors you’ll never forget. And thanks to Wizards of the Coast, Geek Culture and Tap & Sac are thrilled to present a fittingly memorable preview card  – Unstoppable Slasher! 

Unstoppable Slasher is a rare creature card that costs 1 black and 2 generic mana, and the art comes with a Duskmourn-only “Lurker” alternative (center) and a Paranormal frame (right). It has 2/3 Power and Toughness, and even comes with Deathtouch, making it someone you don’t usually want to block in combat. 

That unwillingness to block will play a part in its second ability: “Whenever Unstoppable Slasher deals combat damage to a player, they lose half their life, rounded up.” Your opponent is left with a lose-lose situation – either lose a creature to block Unstoppable Slasher, or let it connect and lose more than half their current life total. 

Let’s assume the opponent has 20 life. Taking 2 damage from Unstoppable Slasher takes them down to 18. They then lose half of that – 9 life – and that brings them down to 9 life remaining. With one hit, you’ve effectively caused a loss of 11 life, over 50% of what they began with! To be able to pull this off with a single creature that can be cast on turn 3 is equal parts amazing and horrific.

Other Cards that Cause Massive Loss of Life

If you’re looking at similar cards that cause one (or each) player to lose half their life,  Fraying Omnipotence costs 5 mana and affects all players, including yourself. Then there’s Peer in the Abyss, costing 7. Even the more recent Rush of Dread costs 5 mana if you select just the option for an opponent to lose half their life. Unstoppable Slasher doubles up as a good attacker and blocker, while giving the added bonus of causing severe loss of life.

To make things even more nervy for your opponents, Unstoppable Slasher has a way to come back even when killed. “When Unstoppable Slasher dies, if it had no counters on it, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner’s control with two stun counters on it.” The 2 Stun counter will prevent it from attacking for a couple of turns, but if you don’t get rid of it (again) while it has a counter, Unstoppable Slasher is just going to be.. Unstoppable. 

Two Card Combos with Unstoppable Slasher

Because Unstoppable Slasher’s life loss trigger is rounded up, when that figure is doubled, that opponent effectively dies (If the loss trigger was rounded down, an opponent with 19 life will lose 9 life, making it only 18 life if doubled). There are a number of black cards that double the amount of life loss that turn, and combined with Unstoppable Slasher, is just a brutal way of ending the game. 

Wound Reflection is the classic choice here, and can be used in many decks that deal damage through creatures. For 6 mana, it’s a fair and reasonable cost to gain the possibility of killing your opponent with one hit. Another more recent addition is Warlock Class. When leveled up to 3, it does the same doubling effect as Wound Reflection. A Level 3 Warlock Class does cost a total of 9 mana to reach, so not as easy or straightforward.

The best option for you right now (and even legal in the Standard format) is Bloodletter of Aclazotz. This Mythic Rare from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan doesn’t even wait till the end step to make an opponent lose double their life. It is more vulnerable as a creature, and since it gots 3 black and 1 generic mana, it’s really more suited for mono-black decks. Imagine casting Unstoppable Slasher on turn 3, Bloodletter of Aclazotz on turn 4, and possibly winning right there if the opponent takes damage from Slasher. 

End Step

Unstoppable Slasher may only be a Rare, 2/3 creature with Deathtouch, but it does so much more that it’s truly overvalued for its mana cost. Its ability to also return from the Graveyard – albeit with a drawback – can still come in handy in tight games. At the very least, you can use Unstoppable Slasher as a veritable blocker who can handle any big threat that comes its way.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

The post Magic: The Gathering – Duskmourn ‘Unstoppable Slasher’ Card Preview appeared first on Geek Culture.

Magic: the Gathering is going small and furry in the next Standard-release set, with the all-animal plane Bloomburrow set to hit the shops on 2 August. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we’ve got a slithery preview card that is going to prove quite the adversary for our squirrels and otters – Rottenmouth Viper! 

Rottenmouth Viper is a 6/6 creature that costs 1 black and 5 generic Mana, however this cost can be reduced for each non-land permanent you sacrifice. This could be in the form of creatures, artifacts. One of the most advantageous ways to cast Rottenmouth Viper is to tap and sacrifice 3 Treasures, since that would give you 3 Mana plus have a cost reduction of 3. A turn three 6/6 snake? Better run away quick!

One of the best things about Rottenmouth Viper is that you get instant value once it enters the battlefield. As it enters, you put a Blight counter on it, and each opponent loses 4 life unless they sacrifice a nonland permanent or discard a card. It’s perfect Commander material since the trigger can affect multiple opponents, but because it isn’t Legendary, we’ll have to throw that plan out the door.

If a 6/6 on turn three isn’t tough enough to deal with, its bite gets more venomous with each attack. Each attack adds an additional Blight counter, leading to severe palpitations for your opponent. Assuming Rottenmouth Viper survives a turn, on your first attack it will already have 2 Blight counters. Imagine losing 8 life, discard 2 cards, or sacrifice 2 non-land permanents on their board – terribly rotten for your opponent. 

What Kind Of Decks Can Rottenmouth Viper Fit In?

Since Bloomburrow is the latest set for Standard format and the list of eligible cards will be refreshed on 30th July, Bloomburrow will lay the groundwork for a new meta environment. So what kind of Standard decks might Rottenmouth Viper be the most effective in? 

In line with Rottenmouth Viper’s sacrifice theme, a green-black deck focusing on Food tokens or dying triggers would be its natural home. In Standard, cast Rottenmouth Viper by sacrificing cards such as Etched Familiar, Gruff Triplets or Flitting Guerilla to get some value back despite losing a creature. Etched Familiar will drain the opponent for 2 life, the Triplets makes his brothers bigger, and Guerilla puts a creature from the Graveyard back on top of your deck, ready to cast next turn. 

Or how about using your opponent’s cards as casting fodder for Rottenmouth Viper? A red-green Standard deck can have cards that temporarily gain control of creatures, which can then be sacrificed to bring a cheaper Viper onto the battlefield. There’s Awaken the Sleeper, Furnace Reins, and Take for a Ride to steal a big threat, deal some damage and let it die to Rottenmouth Viper’s cost. You will need considerable Mana to do this, but all fun, crazy things do come at a price.

Although Rottenmouth Viper isn’t eligible to be a Commander, there are plenty of discard or sacrifice Commander decks that it can slot right in. Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal as a Commander forces opponents to throw cards away, and Rottenmouth Viper does the same but in spades. Should the opponent choose to discard cards, Aclazotz creates 1/1 Bats to pile on the pressure. Rottenmouth Viper will be a small cog in a big machine of discard spells, but once it hits the board, it’s going to cause a lot of problems since its triggers affect each opponent.

End Step

A very powerful addition to black for the new Standard meta, Rottenmouth Viper will also be a worthwhile replacement in many Commander decks beyond Bloomburrow. Its ability to cause massive life and card loss if left unchecked makes it a kill-on-sight target, though by then it would have already left a mark thanks to its Enters trigger. Even if you’re not casting it at a reduced cost, it’s still an incredibly strong card that will see play in multiple formats. 

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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Don’t head off for your mid-year holidays just yet, Magic: The Gathering has lined up the year’s biggest release! Modern Horizons 3 (MH3) goes public on June 14 and follows up on the best-selling Modern Horizons 2 (MH2), which introduced plenty of powerful cards that are still widely used today. Urza’s Saga, Esper Sentinel, and the cycle of Evoke creatures made MH2 a hit, and many fans are expecting MH3 to level up over its predecessor. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we’re stoked to present a new preview card for the newest installment – Lion Umbra!

Lion Umbra is an uncommon green card and takes after other umbras, as an Aura Enchantment that is cast onto a creature. It costs 2 green mana, and gives the enchanted creature +3/+3, Vigilance and Reach. If that wasn’t enough, it bears the Umbra Amor keyword (formerly known as Totem Armor), basically giving your creature a one-time protection against being destroyed or dying to lethal damage.

There is one little drawback to this otherwise powerful Aura. It can only target modified creatures, so it has to be either already enchanted, equipped, or have a counter on it. It’s a small hoop that you’d have to jump through in order to attach Lion Umbra.

Is Lion Umbra Good Enough for Modern?

As Modern Horizons 3 was designed with the Modern format in mind, how relevant is Lion Umbra in an environment where Auras don’t see that much play?

Mono green Tron would seemingly be the obvious home for Lion Umbra, since it does cost specifically 2 green mana. However Tron decks run a whole lot of Artifacts and pretty much zero Auras or Equipments. Creature count is also very low as it utilises Planeswalkers to lock down the opponent’s game plan. Not only are there few targets for Lion Umbra, it would be virtually impossible to attach it to anything.

In order to overcome Lion Umbra’s restriction of targeting only modified creatures, it’s best to place it in a deck that uses +1/+1 counters in its main strategy. Mono green Hardened Scales is heavy on Artifacts too but is all about placing +1/+1 counters to overpower your opponent’s creatures. Its full load of Arcbound Ravager, Patchwork Automaton and other modified creatures means Lion Umbra targets are easy to come by.

Lion Umbra fits into the overall deck strategy but it does have some drawbacks. Lion Umbra doesn’t buff through +1/+1 counters, so you can’t shift down around using The Ozolith. It might be a challenge to find a space to slot Lion Umbra into a deck that is already filled with key components. It could replace Welding Jar as protection against destroy effects, but Lion Umbra isn’t an Artifact and Welding Jar’s 0 cost is too hard to pass up.

As Aura-focused decks are few and far between in the Modern scene, Lion Umbra might best be a card for the sideboard. It will certainly do well in casual Commander decks that focus on stacking a ton of Equipment or Auras on a single creature. Lion Umbra’s 2 mana cost is really low, considering the +3/+3 buff and gaining of Vigilance and Reach, a necessary blend for balanced offense and defense. Those decks, helmed by Commanders such as Dogmeat, Ever Loyal (from the recent Fallout), often have a full suite and Equipment and Auras, and Lion Umbra will be among friendly company.

End Step

Lion Umbra is a worthy addition to the line of Umbra cards, offering a substantial buff and at the same time protection from destroy effects. It’s annoying to deal with, though a simple bounce of the creature or destroying the Aura itself usually solves the problem. In the Modern scene, Lion Umbra is a little out of place right now and it would take some serious shifting of the meta if it is to see competitive play.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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The dust hasn’t settled yet for Magic: the Gathering’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction spoilers! The new set is the game’s first-ever western-themed expansion and already features a diverse cast of returning characters from Tinybones to Jace. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we’ve got a new uncommon card to reveal – Prairie Dog! 

Prairie Dog is a white, 2/2 creature that does a lot despite only costing 2 mana. It has Lifelink, which will sit right at home with white’s life gaining attributes. It also has two other abilities, the first states:

“At the beginning of your end step, if you haven’t cast a spell from your hand this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Prairie Dog.” While it may seem like a strange ability to have, this ties in perfectly with Thunder Junction’s new Plot mechanic, which casts spells from exile. Doing so will trigger Prairie Dog’s ability and make it grow stronger. If you open one or more Prairie Dogs in your prerelease kit, it could be worth building your deck around Plots. Your opponent could then be facing a rather mean 3/3 or 4/4 dog!

Prairie Dog’s last activated ability costs a fair bit – 1 white and 4 generic mana. Once activated, you’ll get to put an additional +1/+1 counter when one or more counters are placed on any of your creatures. If Prairie Dog is the only beneficiary of this ability, it’s hardly worth the cost even if you’re ‘plotting’ (unless you really have nothing better to spend mana on).

However, it’s a different story on decks built specifically around +1/+1 counters. For example, a green-white deck that utilises counters can extract lots of value for Prairie Dog. Mono white decks built around lifegain will also find Prairie Dog a great addition since it already has Lifelink. Activate that last ability and cards like Ajani’s Pridemate grow twice as fast. 

End Step

Our biggest regret with Prairie Dog is that it isn’t actually a dog creature type! It would have been an amazing addition to any Commander deck led by Rin and Seri, Inseparable. As a squirrel, we’ll just ask it to scurry away. Jokes aside, Prairie Dog is a card that pulls above its weight for such a low mana cost, and is certainly playable in popular formats such as Commander. 

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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Saddle up! Magic: the Gathering is heading to the wild west in its first ever western-themed set Outlaws of Thunder Junction, which will be available in stores starting April 19. Geek Culture and Tap & Sac have brought back a little something from an early raid – preview card Insatiable Avarice! 

Insatiable Avarice is a black sorcery that costs just a single black mana to cast, but requires an additional cost to enjoy one or two benefits. This is part of the new Spree mechanic made just for Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

Pay 2 generic mana: you’ll search your library for a card, shuffle your deck, then put the chosen card on top.

The second Spree cost needs two black mana. Pay that and target player draws 3 cards and loses 3 life.    

If you’re going for a bank run and have the mana to back it up, you could pay both Spree costs – total of 5 mana – and effectively draw 3 cards (one of which you had searched). On first impression, Insatiable Avarice is certainly worth its weight in gold. Its flexibility of choosing 1 or both costs means you can cast it early with just 3 mana, or go for broke in the late game when mana isn’t an issue. 

Paying the first Spree cost already gives you a card of your choice, albeit it’s placed on top of your deck. The main drawback here is that you won’t be able to cast that key spell right away since it’s not in your hand. Paying both Spree costs lets you do just that, but you’ll be losing 3 life and you need 2 additional black mana. Well, if there’s ever a scenario when your opponent is bleeding out on the dirt with just 3 life left, Insatiable Avarice becomes the perfect answer.

Comparing Insatiable Avarice to Other Modern Black Tutors

Insatiable Avarice is a form of tutor card that lets you search for any card in your library. It’s emblematic of black and there have been many tutors in Magic’s history. The previous set – Murders at Karlov Manor – even had its own black tutor as part of a Case mechanic. 

Case of the Stashed Skeleton

The new Case card type involves more steps to get your tutor effect, but Case of the Stashed Skeleton does give you a 2/1 creature with Menace. Don’t discount the usefulness of a creature as it could make a trade in combat or even steal some damage from your opponent. You’ll pay a total of 4 Mana before you can search your library, but this effect does put the card in your hand. 

Beseech the Mirror

One of the gems from Wilds of Eldraine, Beseech the Mirror has grown in stature for its use in multiple formats because of its ability to cast the searched spell for free. It costs 4 (including 3 black mana) and a sacrificed artifact, enchantment or token, but it is a very reasonable cost. Beseech the Mirror qualifies as a stronger tutor compared to Insatiable Avarice. 

Diabolic Intent

An old tutor card that was recently reprinted in The Brothers War, Diabolic Intent costs a mere 2 mana, with the sole drawback being to sacrifice a creature. Again, it’s very doable with cheap token creatures, and black often benefits whenever a creature dies anyway. Diabolic Intent also puts the card into your hand, a clear advantage compared to Insatiable Avarice. 

End Step

Insatiable Avarice isn’t going to win awards for best tutor in the game, but it does have a couple of things going for it. The optional add-on of drawing more cards can be useful in certain scenarios, or you may just choose to draw cards for just 3 mana, a fair price and can help you when you’re in a bind. Spree adds a modularity to the game that many players will appreciate, and having an option that lets you search your library should not be underestimated.  

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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Magic: the Gathering’s latest set – Murders at Karlov Manor – dived deep into flavour town and
introduced a bunch of new mechanics and card types to give the game a new twist. Creatures
that were disguised or cloaked often got players scratching their heads on whether they should
be blocked. You know a bad surprise is coming at you, and the tricky part is what are you going
to do about it?

There’s always someone guilty in a murder, and that means there are plenty of suspects. A
Suspect in Magic gets Menace but also can’t block, and it gives this new set a little more
offensive edge. If you played during the prerelease weekend, you might remember multiple
suspects going for your throat.

Now that most players are familiar with the new cards, we spoke to Murders at Karlov Manor’s Product Architect Mike Turian on how Disguise, Cloak, Suspect mechanics came to being and what were the considerations that went into the new Case Enchantment type.

Question (Q): It feels like Murders at Karlov Manor has more emphasis on new mechanics than recent sets. What were some of the broad themes and considerations that went into designing this set’s mechanics?

Mike Turian (MT): For this set’s mechanics, the vision design team set out early on to find mechanics that captured the essence of the concepts of both Disguise/Cloak and Collect Evidence. For this they ended up trying out different variations of mechanics, or sometimes completely new ideas. In the case of Disguise, it was fairly early on when the team discovered that adding Ward 2 to Morphs would do a good job of creating both a resonant mechanic and good game play.

Q: You brought back “Investigate” but rather than do the same for “morph,” you created the new “Disguise” mechanic. Was this to keep its usability and effectiveness on the same level as other mechanics in modern times?

There were a couple of factors that lead us to introduce Disguise and Cloak, rather than stick with the Morph mechanic. From a gameplay perspective, Morph, having been introduced over 20 years ago, hasn’t kept up with the typical power level of a Magic card so adding Ward 2 just helped make the new cards more in line with what you would expect to play for 3-mana in today’s Magic.

Additionally, from a flavour perspective, the word Morph didn’t really capture the vibe we were going for here while Cloak and Disguise are so spot on. Lastly, we liked that Ward 2 offered an additional feel of being in disguise. There both is the mystery of what the creature is and it is a little bit harder to interact with before revealing itself.

Q: The new “case” cards fit in so nicely with the murder mystery theme. Was there an intentional slant toward theme/flavor rather than having high usability/power level?

MT: I agree that “Cases” are a great flavour fit for a murder mystery set. We had actually tried the mechanic in a number of different sets before bringing Cases to Murders at Karlov Manor. I think each time that we tried early versions of Cases, they weren’t as streamlined nor as strong with resonant tropes for card designs as they ended up being here.

As far as power level goes, we always are looking to create exciting cards for both limited and constructed play. While there are only twelve Cases in Magic right now, if we see our players respond to them, I can see us bringing more to Magic at some point in the future.

Q: “Suspect” brings back memories of “Decayed,” as their “cannot block” clause is a drawback. However with Menace and some linkage with the Case cards, Suspect isn’t half bad. How did Menace get tied to being a Suspect?

The game play that took the most iteration in Murders at Karlov Manor was getting Suspected right. Finding a way to navigate the design such that you both had reasons to give your creatures suspect counters as well as your opponents was quite challenging. Menace was the key in providing a bonus to your creature that would make it worthwhile to suspect your own creatures. In the end, I think the team found a sweet spot that captures Suspect well.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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What happens when you combine magical fantasy with a world ravaged by the unchecked power of technology? Set centuries into the future, Fallout chronicles a world that has been ravaged by nuclear destruction and radiation. Mutated monsters lurk among the ruins, while the human survivors struggle for scraps both under and above ground. 

On 8 March 2024, you’ll get to take Fallout from the desktop to the tabletop with Magic: the Gathering’s Universes Beyond. Use Dogmeat to attack your opponents, or sit back as military dictator Caesar as you control the board. There are over 100 new cards to collect, and thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we’ve got an exclusive preview of a rare from the wastelands – Struggle for Project Purity!

Struggle for Project Purity is a blue Enchantment that costs one blue and 3 generic Mana, and will be found in the Mutant Menace Commander preconstructed deck. When it enters the battlefield, you get to select between Brotherhood or Enclave: 

Brotherhood can be an invaluable card draw engine, easily drawing 3 cards during your Upkeep in the early game. Each opponent gets to draw a card (not a good thing), but you are effectively getting 3 times the benefit.  

Choosing Enclave will provide a little deterrence to opponents attacking you, as any attacking player will receive twice the number of Rad counters as attacking creatures. Enclave will make perfect sense if you’re playing Struggle for Project Purity with The Wise Mothman, one of the preconstructed Commanders that focuses on distributing Rad counters.

So What are Rad Counters?  

If you’re wondering what Rad counters are, these are brand new and designed specially for this Fallout crossover set. At the start of your first Main Phase, if you have Rad counters, you will Mill that many cards (putting cards from the Library into the Graveyard). Every non-land card Milled this way makes you lose 1 life and 1 Rad counter. It fits the slow and painful death of radiation poisoning, though in this case it is a one-time effect unless you are hit with more Rad counters.

Choosing Brotherhood or Enclave – Which is Better?

To us, Brotherhood is the clear winner, especially in the early game. Drawing up to 3 additional cards during your upkeep is immense, and while this also accelerates your opponent’s game plan since they each get to draw a card, all those extra cards you’ve drawn should give you the edge. Brotherhood starts to get less effective when you’re down to a single opponent. Both of you are drawing an extra card, so it’s 50-50 on who will benefit from it more. 

Enclave will do wonders in a Rad-focused deck, such as a Fallout-themed deck build or one of the Mutant Menace preconstructed Commander deck. That’s when you can utilise Rad counters as your main winning strategy. That way, Enclave serves 2 purposes – deterring opponents from attacking you, while also providing an additional source of Rad counters. 

Struggle for Project Purity is a close cousin of Monastery Siege, and that’s a good thing! They’re both Enchantments that let you choose between 2 effects. Monastery Siege is also a draw engine with lesser upside but no drawbacks, while the second option protects your stuff with Ward 2. It’s an understated card in Commander, but highly effective, and you can expect Struggle for Project Purity to be the same. 

End Step

Struggle for Project Purity is a decent card that we believe will see use in plenty of Commander games even long after Fallout is released, since it does what blue loves to do – drawing more cards and stopping attacks. If you’re a fan of Fallout, it will slip in nicely to any deck that revolves around Rad counters. If you’re not, nevertheless hold on to it as it will come in handy for future decks.  

Magic: The Gathering Fallout Universes Beyond sets roll out from 8 March 2024 onwards so be sure to get those preorders in before it’s too late!

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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New year, new Magic: the Gathering cards! While technically not the very first release of 2024 (Ravnica Remastered with reprint cards), the upcoming Murders at Karlov Manor will be the first premium set to boast brand new cards, and it includes completely new card subtypes and mechanics. Take out your notepads, as Geek Culture and Tap & Sac present this exclusive spoiler (thanks Wizards of the Coast) – Case of the Stashed Skeleton!

Case of the Stashed Skeleton is a new Rare Enchantment that costs 1B, and features the brand new Case type. There are 3 components to this Case – a trigger when it enters the Battlefield, and then a second trigger if you “Solve” the Case. Let’s see the costs of solving this Case is worth putting on your detective’s hat.

When Case of the Stashed Skeleton first hits the board, you create a 2/1 Skeleton Creature that is “Suspected”. A suspected Creature has Menace and can’t block, so it’s quite similar to the Decayed keyword (can’t block and dies after an attack).

In order to solve the Case, you have to control 0 Suspected Skeletons. So assuming you have that single 2/1 Skeleton, it has to die in some way before you can unlock the big mystery of the Case. Solving Case of the Stashed Skeleton gives you a big reward. For another 1B Mana, you can Sacrifice it and search your Library for any single card and put it into your hand. That is pretty strong!

Ways to Solve a Case

In black, it’s easy to solve a Case since there are multiple cards that require you to Sacrifice a Creature. Village Rites is one and Deadly Dispute are 2 commonly seen cards that net you extra cards, and now you have a 2/1 token to Sacrifice. Colourless Artifacts such as Ashnod’s Altar can also get the job done, this time supplying you with extra Mana to cast other spells.

To make the most out of your 2/1 Skeleton, try to use it as an attacker or blocker unless it is no longer effective. With Instant Sacrifice effects, you could use the Skeleton as a chump blocker and subsequently sacrificing it to Village Rites before it dies. Not only do you save yourself some damage, you get to draw more cards to play.

Some Drawbacks of Case of the Stashed Skeleton

There are 2 main drawbacks to Case of the Stashed Skeleton, assuming that searching for a card in your Library is the ultimate goal you want to achieve.

The first is obvious: you need to have 0 Suspected Skeletons in order to solve the Case. If you play any other cases that create Suspected Skeletons, all will have to die before you can activate the “solved” portion of the Case. Naturally if you play multiple Case of the Stashed Skeleton, you’re going to get more Suspected Skeletons. Without more insight into the other Cases found in the Murders at Karlov Manor, this may be a non-issue, or it could really affect the effectiveness of this card.

The second drawback isn’t as obvious but is equally as significant. You can only activate the Solved trigger as a Sorcery, meaning on your Main Phase and you can’t respond to another player’s actions. This may not seem bad at first, considering that most search (aka tutor) spells such as Demonic Tutor and Profane Tutor are also Sorceries. However, if you take into account the hoops you have to jump through to reach the Solved state, it makes Case of the Stashed Skeleton less exciting to play.

End Step

The new Case cards are going to add a new dimension of gameplay to all MTG formats. It looks very similar to Sagas, where you get multiple benefits off a single card. But where Sagas automatically trigger each turn, the Case of the Stashed Skeleton requires lots of work to get to the final payoff. Depending on the requirement, this may not be worth a slot in your deck.

Case of the Stashed Skeleton is not a bad card – it’ll see play in plenty of casual Commander decks, but we don’t expect to see it much in competitive play.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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Magic: the Gathering is returning to the lawless lands of Ixalan, where beastly dinosaurs and free-roaming pirates pillage everything in sight. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan will be released on 17 November, and so far we already know Flip Lands are returning, as well as other creature tribes like pirates, merfolk and fungi. 

Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, Geek Culture and Tap & Sac have a very fitting Ixalan preview card for you – Akawalli, the Seething Tower!

A multicoloured creature in green and black, Akwalli, the Seething Tower is a 3/3 Legendary Fungus that costs 3 Mana. The art comes in two versions, one featuring classic art by Simon Dominic, and another by rishxxv in a special showcase frame. In terms of abilities, Akawalli doesn’t have any basic abilities like flying or deathtouch, but it does have two Descent abilities, new to the Lost Caverns of Ixalan: 

Descent 4 – As long as there are four or more permanent cards in your graveyard, Akawalli gets +2/+2 and Trample.

Descent 8 – As long as there are eight or more permanent cards in your graveyard, Akawalli gets an additional +2/+2 and can’t be blocked by more than one creature. 

What is Descent? New Lost Caverns of Ixalan Mechanic

Descent is a brand new mechanic introduced in Lost Caverns of Ixalan. It counts the number of Permanent cards in your Graveyard in order to trigger. It’s actually very similar to Threshold, except that the restriction on Permanents means it’ll be a little bit harder to fulfil the requirements.

All of Akawalli, the Seething Tower’s abilities depend on triggering Descent. Descent 4 means there needs to be at least 4 Permanents in your Graveyard for his ability to trigger. Akwalli’s Descent 8 may take a long time to achieve, but Descent 4 is definitely a realistic target in any format, even in Limited formats like Draft or Sealed. 

If you can reach Descent 4, Akawalli becomes a 5/5 with Trample (great stats for just a 3-Mana creature), but if you hit the big 8, it then becomes a 7/7 Trample that can’t be gang-blocked by multiple creatures! It becomes a serious threat that is going to be hard to deal with, at least in combat. 

So how do we get to the glorious Descend 8? We’ll need some other cards to fill the graves. 

Ways to Get Cards into Your Graveyard for Descent

Since Akwalli, the Seething Tower is green and black, we’re going to stick to those colours for card suggestions. The good news is that green and black are the perfect combination to find effects for Graveyard manipulation. Blue also likes to dump cards into the Graveyard, but half the time you’d be doing the dirty for the opponent, not yourself. 

Here are some cards that can help fill that Graveyard of yours:

Stitcher’s Supplier plays very well with Awakalli, the Seething Tower because it’s cheap (only cost 1 black Mana), and puts 3 cards into your Graveyard when it comes in and both when it dies. With a total of 6 possible Permanents to count towards Descent, that’s a lot of value for just 1 Mana. The same goes for Acolyte of Affliction. It may only count for up to 2 counts in Descent, it does bring back another card back into your hand, providing some much needed card advantage.

And speaking of card advantage, Village Rites is a staple common that nets you 2 cards by sacrificing a creature. While that may sound bad, what about sacrificing Stitcher’s Supplier for double payout? Supplier is fodder for sacrifices and it will put even more Permanent cards into your Graveyard. 

While these are all playable in the Commander format (where you can even use Akawalli as your general), these aren’t legal in Standard, which Akawalli will be. Nevertheless, you can always fill your Graveyard the good old way of sacrificing permanents or let the count tick up when your opponent kills your creatures.

End Step

Akawalli, the Seething Tower isn’t a busted card, but it provides fair value in many situations, especially if you’re going for green and black colours surrounding a Graveyard theme. The Magic: the Gathering Ixalan prerelease events will run anytime between 10 to 16 November, so check in with your local stores to reserve a spot!

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Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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The future is already here, and we didn’t need a time machine to acquire the next Magic: the Gathering release! Riding on the popularity of the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set earlier this year, the next installment from the Universes Beyond crossover series is the fan-favourite Doctor Who!

For the uninitiated, Doctor Who is a long running TV series from the UK that has grown its own cult following over the decades, in England and beyond. It tells the tale of a time-travelling alien (who appears human) trying to save Earth from otherworldly threats. Universes Beyond Doctor Who will be released on Oct 13, and comes in 4 Commander decks or a Collector Booster box, so no Set or Draft Booster products. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we have an exclusive preview card – Quantum Alignment – that you’ll find nowhere else in space or time!

Quantum Misalignment is a Rare Sorcery that costs 1 blue and 4 generic Mana, allowing you to “create a token that’s a copy of target creature you control, except it isn’t legendary”. Beyond that it also offers a nice 2-for-1, thanks to its Rebound ability that lets you cast it for free again at your next Upkeep.

Note that Quantum Misalignment is not found in all the Doctor Who Commander decks, it’ll be specifically in the Paradox Power deck featuring the 12th and 13th Doctor. Paradox Power is all about playing cards from Exile to get extra benefits like +1/+1 counters, so Quantum Alignment will fit just right in.

Blue cards copying Creatures isn’t exactly new. There’s the age-old Clone that takes the shape of any other Creature, and in more recent times Extravagant Replication (an Enchantment) and Glasspool Mimic. However, none come with the bonus Rebound mechanic, effectively giving Quantum Misalignment good value considering its cost of 5 Mana.

Another selling point for Quantum Misalignment is that any Creature you copy instantly becomes a non-legendary version. This means you could be copying your Commander not once, but twice, and all 3 copies will stay on the Battlefield thanks to this particular clause. Imagine having 3 of the same Doctors fighting for you at the same time – no galactic threat is
going to be safe!

What’s better is you can take Quantum Misalignment and slot it into any deck with a blue Commander identity. How about 3 Bruvac, the Grandiloquent for triple the Mill hate, or perhaps 3 Orvar, the All-Form for some mind-boggling copy chaos? The card is so adaptable and playable that it can fit into almost any deck.

End Step

Ready for some time travel while saving the world as a side quest? Join your local game store’s Launch Party event happening between Oct 13-15 for some wild, show-stopping fun. The doctor will see you now.

Ted Chen

Ted Chen is the founder of Tap & Sac, a website with a dream of making Magic: the Gathering more accessible and inclusive to a whole generation of new players. It offers learning guides for beginners, all the way to advanced videos for seasoned spellcasters. Everyone can have fun in the gathering!

tapandsac.com/

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