Returning to the plane of Zendikar the third time (in my case) has somewhat got me excited about the old and new mechanics that the set will introduce. Being one of the successful Magic: the Gathering sets, it probably will highly attract the new players to the game and that may also increase the users of the Magic Arena platform.

The Standard gameplay is still my favorite format to focus at the moment even though the return of tabletop gaming is unlikely until the end of the year. I’d be happy to test some of the new Standard deck brews on kitchen table settings with close friends and as soon as the set is legal to play in Arena. Also, I am not sure if the scheduled Zendikar Rising Prerelease will push through at our local game store.

Anyhow, back to some decks to brew for Standard, we have a few things that are expected.

First of all, Landfall-based decks will be prevalent and the new build to work around. Of course with the rotation happening and we bid goodbye to Ravnica, War of the Spark, and the previous Magic Core Set, deck builds that are revolving around set mechanics will be the ones left.

Throne of Eldraine is already looking to be standalone with its Adventures deck strategy while Ikoria reinforces decks with its Companions. They are already stable enough for competition but people are excited to try the new Magic: the Gathering set.

Next is that the current Standard deck builds will be reinforced with Zendikar Rising. I already see an improved Ramp deck either Simic or Temur, thanks to the reprinting of Lotus Cobra. I’d prefer Temur personally. Also, Mono-Black Aggro will have its replacement creatures even if it is severely affected by the rotation.

The first competitive Standard tournament on Magic Arena is already on the schedule and I can’t wait to see what these new and improved deck builds will fare in the actual gameplay.

For now, I’ll just enjoy reading through the whole of the spoiler and also the Zendikar Rising release notes.

The Zendikar Rising card spoiler season gets you on a lot of ideas on the various deck builds using these new cards and the possible card interactions that is fun and exciting to cast. I just wished though that the tabletop gaming will be back as soon as possible as the feeling is just unique when using the cards in the actual scenario.

For the best example on this, check out today’s Zendikar Rising card preview: Charix, the Raging Isle.

Having big toughness creatures of the Crab creature type for Blue is not uncommon though this card seemed to be a bit interesting because of its activation ability. It does require you to have a lot of Islands for it to be most efficient but having at least three is already okay. Its plus point is that it can able to somewhat protect itself from spot removal spells.

I found an interesting combo for this card that is plausible in Standard gameplay. The nearest archetype that it can be core component is the Azorious Auras deck. The card combination are as follows:

Charix, the Raging Isle + Sentinel’s Eye + Solid Footing

The Sentinel’s Eye makes Charix vigilant when attacking and also fulfills the condition of Solid Footing of assigning combat damage based on toughness. Adding an evasion effect, this lets you deal 19 damage which is not lethal yet in one swing though the Auras deck usually has more pump effects which can basically one-shot your opponent.

I cannot wait for the actual decklist of this build with Charix included and see its gameplay on Magic Arena.

The Zendikar Rising card spoilers are being updated daily and with Reddit thread as my main source, I will try to cover and discuss as many cards as possible given with the least period to review its possible uses in the Standard format.

For today, we have a Blue Sorcery spell which is I think will be part of the color cycle of “Inscriptions” in the set. Check out Inscription of Insight.

The card has three options when casting and you get the chance to use all of them when you pay the Kicker cost. Bouncing creatures and card draws are really good card advantage in itself. The problem here though is that it is of a Sorcery speed, which contradicts what the color Blue’s main strategy is.

It is great that you get an Illusion creature but at the cost tapping out on your fourth turn opens up for removal or answer from your opponent. Ideally, you would play this on your sixth turn onwards with open mana for your counterspells. The problem though is getting to that six mana and beyond, as the chances of missing land drops are still present.

Anyhow, having this in a Blue-White Control might get a fit as most of the card components are for the late game plan. It is common for the deck to tap out for big threats and planeswalkers so I think a copy or two in the deck can suffice. The next possible deck is still under the Control bracket with the Dimir colors. This version is more on the discard and creature removal route with little to no counters in the main deck. The late-game plan revolves on planeswalkers such as Ashiok, Nightmare Muse, and Shark Typhoon as its win condition.

Overall, Inscription of Insight can be a crucial late-game card in these control decks. By card price value, it ain’t that much and probably starts with an average of 2 dollars on pre-order.

Until the next blog post.

One of the creatures that had been iconic to me personally from the Zendikar set is Bloodghast. I recalled playing a set of it in my Rakdos Vampires deck which got me my first money finish and my first Pro Point in a Magic: the Gathering professional event way back in Grand Prix Singapore 2011.

That is where I got in 54th place and faced a lot of well-known and strong Pro players of the game. The most memorable one was against the Dragonmaster Brian Kibler where he played a Dimir Tezerret deck. I was on the edge of losing in Game 2 after a mull to 5 but I luckily top-decked my second land to kill off his Myr mana dude. It ended up for him being stuck to only three lands while I was able to drop my attackers in the next turns and go all the way from there.

Back in the present in this MTG spoiler month, I saw this Zendikar Rising card preview which somewhat got some similarities with that of Bloodghast’s abilities. Check out Skyclave Shade.

[ZNR] Skyclave Shade
byu/UVSpyro inmagicTCG

A two-drop for 3 power is already good in itself, more so when casts in the late game with the Kicker mana access, giving it two more +1/+1 counters. It is of the Shade creature type rather than the Vampire, so it makes sense. Though we are used with the old prints with “B: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.”

The Landfall trigger ability, in comparison to that of Bloodghast, is somewhat weaker as you still need to pay for the mana cost and also only if it is your turn. That means though that the dropping it early on to deal damage or trade with opponents’ creatures and then casting it with Kicker. It makes it an efficient attacker in all modes of the battle gameplan.

As per the Standard play, it will get a slot if Rakdos Sacrifice will still be a viable deck archetype post-rotation. Mono-Black aggro will auto cater to this in 4 copies of course as some of its parts will be out in the format.

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

Reference: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/event-coverage/grand-prix-singapore-round-final-standings-2011-06-05

I just catch a glimpse of the spoiler cards from the upcoming Magic: the Gathering Zendikar Rising set on Twitter and Facebook and I got to say that this will be an awesome and exciting of new cards to build the decks and of course, for limited gameplay. I do hope though at the local setting that the tabletop gaming will be back, as currently the weekly tournaments are held via Magic Arena platform.

Anyhow, for today’s Zendikar Rising card spoiler preview, we have a double-faced Mythic card that is the latest Green spell to cheat a creature into the battlefield. Check out Turntimber Symbiosis:

Not missing a land drop in the early turns is very important, and Green is probably the best color to not miss the mana-access due to the many land-searching spells and mana dudes it caters. This card preview today gives the option of having a land play in your starting and also the late game option that lets you put a creature card into play from the top 7 cards of your library. Given that you reveal one with a converted mana cost of 3 or less, it gets an additional 3 +1/+1 counters which at the least makes it a threat and gain you the value for the mana and turn you spent.  

While there is not the likes of Emrakul in the current Standard, we can expect from Zendikar Rising a huge Green creature that this card can co-exist with. Mono-ramp decks has no issue in getting into seven mana to cast this. In my experience of having card similar to this (I.e. Summoning Trap), it is just the way the ideal creatures are added in the decklist to fully benefit from this one especially those with ETB effects (I.e. Meteor Golem).

That is about it for now. Until the next Zendikar Rising blog post.

So the Zendikar Rising previews have officially started last Monday and there is a whole lot of information circling the net regarding this upcoming Magic: the Gathering set. I have a few hints read at the Magic TCG Reddit thread and also a few tweets on Twitter. I don’t know where to start but I’d prefer to be with just a bunch of new cards with potential for Standard gameplay.

We have first, this interesting Legendary Izzet Human Wizard Kaza, Roil Chaser.

Zendikar Rising introduced a new mechanic called Party and a part of it is the Wizard creature type. While there is a possibility of a tribal Wizard deck to enforce Kaza’s tap ability, its use I think would still be minimal and also situational. At the least, it is a hasty two-drop that can pick off early damage to opponents and later on cheapens your big spells.

Next up, Brushfire Elemental.

Reminds me of the Plated Geopede that got an upgrade. While most of the support for the Gruul guild is rotating out of the Standard format once Zendikar Rising enters the ‘battlefield’, I am still on high hopes that the deck archetype will shift to the landfall aggro strategy and this dude will be part of it. It might be not that powerful as before because of the absence of fetchlands but Fabled Passage will do.  

3^rd is Pelakka Predation.

What is interesting about these double-faced cards into lands is that they somewhat tempt you to just go play all cards with this mechanic and go zero basic lands. It has a few drawbacks, yes, but the benefit of having these spells in the late game greatly lessen that chance of topdecking blanks.  Pelakka Predation is basically a conditional Coercion but gets you the needed Black mana on your early turns.

I am wrapping this post for now with the feeling of information overload on Zendikar Rising and other news of upcoming sets from the Mothership website. You can check on their Daily MTG feature and also for other non-official card reveals, you have Reddit and Twitter.

Until next time.