The Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths set has introduced a whole range of ‘counter’ aside from the usual norm +1/+1, -1/-1 and poison counters that we know. What is interesting here is that some creatures and spells work around on these counters for today’s IKO card feature, we have one artifact creature that simply gains one random counter from the list. Check out Crystalline Giant.

While it is a common 3/3 for 3 mana, every trigger at the beginning of combat that gives it a random counter that has not yet listed gives it a slight advantage against opposing creatures at that turn. If you are lucky, the sequencing counters might get you into a major board advantage.

There was an article by Frank Karsten on how to determine the ‘random’ trigger by Crystalline Giant and the best way is to use a D10 or a ten-sided dice. 

To quote, “There are 10 different counters, so a roll of 1 would grant flying, a roll of 2 would grant the first strike, and so on. You would just follow the printed order of abilities listed on the card. If this leads to a kind of counter that Crystalline Giant already has, then you reroll (and keep rerolling until you succeed).” He also discussed other methods such as using other less or more sided dice and tossing coins which you can read more here. 

That is a wrap for now and until the next blog post.

Back in the days of the Onslaught set in Standard, Cycling was on the mechanics and there was one deck archetype built around it that had become a top tier deck in the metagame. The deck works on the two main Enchantments that gains advantage whenever you cycle a card and those were Astral Slide and Lightning Rift. For today’s card preview and feature, we have an Ikoria enchantment that is of similar function of the previous cards mentioned.

Check out Reptilian Reflection.

Built-around a mechanic decks are usually well-supported as what I have observed in the recent Magic sets. In the upcoming Ikoria set, I think it will be the same case as it is a standalone set. How the deck setup will look like is the main question. Having a playset of this enchantment may not act as win condition on itself but a 5/4 hasty Dinosaur is one threat that you should consider seriously.

What is tricky here is that you would only activate it for open plays as it is vulnerable to spot removals. You can bait out your opponents with other threats so later on they won’t have an answer to this one.

There are relevant Cycling cards already revealed and so it will be easy to sort which cards to use. I might expect the deck to be that of the tri-color shell in Jeskai or Temur. The previous Onslaught Cycle deck was in Boros (Red-White) colors. For consistency purposes, I would personally go with two colors and then splash a third one for a safe access to that shard color in the sideboard.

I might follow up a Cycle decklist (first version) once the complete Ikoria card spoilers is out. For now, I am wrapping up this blog post and until next time.

Another Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths card that I will preview and discuss for today, April 8th, is a card I found in a thread on Magic TCG Reddit which is somewhat a Green counterpart of my previous blog post. The card is called Hornbash Mentor and is previewed below.

A 3/3 for three mana, looks decent enough but we don’t want any elephant in our creature lineup. Its ETB ability is quite useful for aggro decks that anchor on large creatures but don’t have ways to deal with chump blockers. While initially, a trample counter will not give any relevant benefit especially against control decks where the ability is irrelevant, Hornbash Mentor presents a second ability that lets you push through the goal of lethal damage on your attackers. This also works if a board stall with your opponents’ creatures and the added +1/+1 counter will make it hard for them to block your assault.

What is next here is the best deck to build around and what the current Standard format offers to us is the Red-Green aggro deck. Their list has been in the metagame for quite a while now and the addition of the mentor will surely improve it. For a quick decklist:

You will notice that almost all of the creatures are non-Human so the trample counter will not go to waste whilst also not affecting the creature curve. ‘Bolsting’ your creature in the late game will become relevant in damage and combat advantage.

In conclusion, Hornbash Mentor will be an icon component of Green-based creature decks in the coming Ikoria Standard format.

Until the next blog post.

Another day means another batch of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths card previews and to start with, we have an interesting White creature that is both efficient and useful in the early turns and late-game scenarios. Check out Splendor Mare.

A 3/3 body with Lifelink on turn-three is already decent enough, especially in the Limited format where creature efficiency is an important component. The Cycling bonus is when the situation is you have a bigger threat that can swing the game further to your direction when added with a Lifelink counter. The best move is to cycle it before the combat damage step.

I will auto-include this card in a Standard White aggro deck or at the least in a two-color deck as the mana cost only require you one White mana to cast this creature. This can curve well with the usual White one and two-drops in the metagame.

What are your thoughts on this card? Just share them on the comment box below.

That is a wrap for this Ikoria card preview, until the next blog post.

The Ikoria card previews are on a full scale this week and reveals have been done on various websites and Twitch channels. As for me, I am always checking on the mothership website and also on Reddit MagicTCG thread for these card spoilers and for today I am sharing a Legendary Creature card with the ability of one of the set’s new mechanic. Check out Lurrus of the Dream-Den

The mechanic Companion gains your advantage if you follow a certain deck-building rule of your chosen companion creature. You can check on the official Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths mechanics article for the detailed explanation of this mechanic. In addition to Lurrus’ Companion ability, it has an additional ability that lets you cast permanent spells with cmc 2 or less from your graveyard. This gets you to build a lot of potential and relevant permanents in a deck of your chosen format.

One deck in Standard that is worth the mention and also a personal favorite is the Black-White Auras deck. I think I posted a deck feature article before on this archetype. The important thing to note here is the card components which are almost 2/3 of the deck are permanent cards. That is composed of Creatures (Alseid of Life’s Bounty, Aphemia, the Cacophony, Hateful Eidolon) and Aura Enchantments (All that Glitters, Sentinel’s Eyes). We will come up with a full decklist on this one once the full Ikoria card spoiler is out as we might miss out on other potential cards to include.

As for other deck ideas, one comment in the Reddit threat suggested a Rat Colony deck with Packs Rats and the Piper of the Swarm. I do not if they already come up with a decklist on this.

That is a wrap for now on this Ikoria card preview. Until the next blog post.

The Ikoria card previews have already started and I have posted the previous night some of the first wave of cards from various reveal sources. As for today’s blog post, we start with a card preview by Ali Eldrazi stream in Twitch and what I think is a dynamic design in functionality. Check out Shark Typhoon.

This card’s flavor is hilarious but on point. This is Sharnado identified in a Magic card. The casting cost is a bit high but reasonable since you can Cycle it if you have drawn the card in the early turns. One of the best late-game plan in the likes of Metallurgic Summonings and while I saw that enchantment back in Kaladesh Standard, I am hopeful that the six mana cost won’t be much of an issue. What is good here is that the Shark tokens have flying which is ideal in cases of cluttered creature board scenario.

The possible decks to include this card are Blue-Red Spells, Blue-Black and Blue-White control. I mentioned Blue-Red first as this archetype is usually the ideal list of purely spells and lands. Previous build cater card draw and cantrip spells which can sustain a continuous Shark token generation.

I will wrap up this card feature for now and will follow up on this post with a Standard decklist soon as the full Ikoria card spoiler is out.

Until the next blog post.

Earlier today, Mark Rosewater or popularly known as Maro posted on his Tumblr account some of the hints and easter eggs of the upcoming Magic: the Gathering set Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths. He did a Maro Teaser on what cards and creature types to expect aside from the given info of having big and monstrous creatures in the set.

To quote his post,

The following can be found in Ikoria:

• Magic’s seventh Egg

• A card with the text “four or more times this game”

• A card with the text “total power 10 or less”

• Magic’s largest power/toughness granting aura.

• A card with the text “X is the number of times this creature has mutated”

• Magic’s third and fourth card with “(Zero is even.)” reminder text.

• Three cards with the text “different name(s)”

• Thirteen different types of counters

• A card that says “choose a kind of counter at random”

• A card with the text “remove eight foreshadow counters”

• And a cycle that players have been asking us to make for over ten years

In addition, Ikoria has creatures with the following creature types:

• Dinosaur Turtle

• Shark Beast

• Demon Kraken

• Elemental Otter

• Brushwagg

• Hellion Horror

• and a Nightmare Squirrel (Yes, a Squirrel in a Standard-legal set!)